http://www.speakspeak.org/speak-blog/2006/04/06/fcc-chair-appointed-by-bush-wants-more-media-ownership-concentration/Posted by Eric Jaffa
Thursday April 06th 2006, 9:58 am
Filed under: FCC, Government, Free Press, Media Concentration
From AdAge via Raw Story:
Martin, a Republican who replaced Michael Powell as chairman last March, was already on the record as an opponent of the cross-ownership rule, but the sharp language he used today suggests its demise — or at least the latest push for it — may be imminent.
In comments to the Newspaper Association of America yesterday, Mr. Martin derided the 26-year-old rule as an outdated product of an era predating the Internet and cable TV.
“A lot has changed since those days of disco and leisure suits,” he said. “But the public has not been convinced of the need for the change, and if you all are unable to get this done, our prospects of doing so are dim,” Martin told the assembled publishing executives.
In the 1970s, there were more newspapers.
In the 1970s, radio station ownership was less concentrated.
The cross-ownership rule against newspapers and TV stations in the same city having the same owner may be from the 1970s, but that doesn’t mean it’s no longer needed.
Regarding the advent of the internet and cable TV, popular news websites and cable news channels are owned by companies which also own broadcast TV stations and produce national radio shows.
CNN is owned by Time Warner, MSNBC by General Electric, and Fox News by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. We don’t need those companies to own more newspapers and more broadcast TV stations.
We need a government seeking ways to break up media concentration, not a government seeking to make the problem worse.
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