Stop Big Media Now
Banking on your short attention span, big media is giving it another shot. Stop Big Media is trying to get the word out.
Tell Congress not to dismantle media ownership rules!
Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been keeping a secret from the American people. He wants to push through plans to remove decades-old media ownership protections. And he’s trying to do it without public scrutiny.
Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) have introduced groundbreaking bipartisan legislation that would hold the FCC accountable and put the people ahead of Big Media.
Letters like this — millions of them — stopped media consolidation in 2003. Sign the letter and tell everyone you know.
Do it now. Here is the letter default – you can edit.
I am writing to urge you to support S 2332, the “The Media Ownership Act of 2007.” This legislation will ensure that the Federal Communications Commission addresses the dismal state of female and minority ownership before changing any rules to unleash more media concentration.
Nearly 99 percent of the public comments received by the FCC oppose changing the nation’s media ownership rules to allow a handful of large conglomerates to swallow up more local media outlets. Congress rejected the same changes to the rules in 2003. Yet the FCC is still pushing a plan to overhaul the rules by the end of the year.
This legislation would mandate that the FCC give the public 90 days’ notice before holding a vote on new rules to ensure a full public accounting of the impact of media consolidation before changing the ownership limits. These steps are necessary to preserve diverse local media that meets the needs of our communities.
Diversity is the cornerstone of a democratic media system. Yet research by Free Press found that that while minorities make up 33 percent of the U.S. population, they own less than 8 percent of radio stations and 3 percent of TV stations.
This legislation would create an independent task force to address the crisis in minority media ownership.
Our democracy requires the free flow of local information from diverse voices. Please support the “The Media Ownership Act of 2007.”
2 thoughts on “Stop Big Media Now”
While I’m completely for any requirements that would increase the accountability and transparency of groups like the FCC, I’m not so sure that it really matters anymore who owns the big media companies.
Fewer and fewer people are getting their news from big media anymore. I know I don’t. I can’t remember the last time I watched the news on TV or listened to it on the Radio. Or even for that matter, read a local newspaper. Most of my news comes from the Internet. And unlike the traditional media outlets, if I don’t like the slant that a particular online news source puts on it’s news, I can easily find another.
All news is slanted by the reporters/editors/owners of the outlet. Sometimes consciously and blatantly and sometimes unconsciously and inadvertently. The danger from too much consolidation was that one group would be able to control what was reported and how it was reported. To the exclusion of all other points of view. That really isn’t possible on the Internet.
So I’m for this legislation because it would force the FCC to be a lot more transparent about its rule changes. Too often rule changes have been made that were short sighted or were only in the best interest of a special interest group. So more accountability would be good. But I am not really worried about the consolidation of media outlets.
Jamie – that is a very astute comment – thank you!
I do think it still matters who owns the big media. Not everyone gets their information off the internet. So many people rely – very often unknowingly – on a combination of television, cable and radio monopolies.
One average American town can still have the majority of such owned by only one or two outlets.
In my view, there is already too much consolidation, and not enough diversity of view and perspective on our public airwaves (they belong to all of us).
I totally agree with you about making the dealings of the FCC on these matters a lot more transparent. Actually, our entire regulatory architecture has been so saturated by crony capitalists that it’s only just a drop in the bucket. Still – transparency would help a lot…