I have two previous posts with videos on this topic, you can check them out here and here.
Please send the FCC a message by encouraging your representative to co-sponsor the Resolution of Disapproval introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan.
When the FCC voted this December, it ignored nearly universal public opposition again, when the Senate voted to overturn similar rule changes. The FCC's decision to let Big Media get even bigger will erode localism, diminish minority ownership, decrease competition & journalistic diversity.
Consolidation means fewer perspectives and less news.
Please support the Resolution of Disapproval and encourage your representative to stand up to the FCC
Click here to find and write your representatives in Congress.
I will try to comment on this later. The FCC is about to give complete green light to media conglomeration.
From PBS: Publishing conglomerates have been buying up local newspapers for more than thirty years, but they've been prohibited from buying radio and TV stations in their home towns. The FCC is poised to relax this rule within the month. This week, the FCC went before the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss media ownership rule changes that Chairman Kevin Martin has been advocating, hoping to push through by December 18. Martin explains:
"This proposal would allow a newspaper to purchase a broadcast station - but not one of the top four television station - in the largest 20 cities in the country as long as 8 independent voices remain. This relatively minor loosening of the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership in markets where there are so many voices and sufficient competition would help strike a balance between ensuring the quality of local news gathering while guarding against too much concentration."
Yet after 6 public hearings on proposed changes, the latest in Seattle on November 9 that lasted until 1 in the morning, public opinion appears to be overwhelmingly opposed to relaxing the rules. "We told you a year ago when you came to Seattle...What part of that didn't you understand?" stated area resident Susan McCabe at the hearing.
December 11th is the last day to contact your representatives to stop the FCC from rushing, against public outcry and public interest, to grant media conglomerates more control. The FCC Chairman wants to allow "A company that owns a newspaper in one of the 20 largest cities in the country to purchase a broadcast TV or radio station in the same market."
Please add your voice to the ground swell of public opposition combating the attempt of the FCC chairman to sneak through a devastating blow to media diversity.
On November 2, 2007, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced that the Commission would hold the sixth and final public hearing on media consolidation November 9, 2007 in Seattle, Washington. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein blasted the Chairman's decision to give the public only five business days notice before the hearing:
"With such short notice, many people will be shut out ... This is outrageous and not how important media policy should be made."
The chairman said, "I've been as transparent as I could be." Since when did it become imperative to keep the public in the dark to protect them?
Please write your representatives in Congress and the FCC. You can click here to have your voice heard.
