while all the attention is focused on the senate debate concerning the egregious f.i.s.a. bill, BushCo™ continues it’s relentless march to insure RATpublican/neoCON control of information and it’s dissemination vis-a-vis the media.
in a move, not unexpected, that has been opposed by both demoRATs and Ratpublicans
Christmas for Big Media
…Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin plans to hold a vote on rules that will let the largest media companies swallow up more local newspapers and TV stations.
…Martin is forging on with the vote, which he knows he will win, despite bipartisan Congressional requests to delay the vote and the adamant opposition of two of the five FCC commissioners…
[…]
Just last week, senators from both parties berated FCC Chairman Kevin Martin about his big giveaway to Big Media. He didn’t flinch. He’s now thumbing his nose at both Congress and the public.
so it now appears as though, regardless of concern expressed from both sides of the aisle, that once again, big media, gets what they want…not that there ever was much doubt of the outcome.
more below
eric alterman, in an essay on dec. 6, layed out some of the excesses and lack of perspective that the media already is guilty of, even without the obvious consolidation this action will facilitate. here, in brief, are his main points:
What’s Really Wrong With the MSM?
1. Its members consistently defer to conservative Republican Presidents with a history of deliberate deception, allowing them to define their terms.
2.Its members invite Republican Congressmen, known to be not merely unreliable but delusional, to lie about Democratic Congressmen.
3. Its members invite conservative Republican individuals known to be insane, unbalanced and unconcerned with the truth to lie about Democratic presidential candidates on the front page of their newspapers and when confronted respond that it is not their job to determine the truth.
4. Its corporations fire, and then buy the silence of, their own reporters in order to hide the truth, when it involves the draft records of certain conservative Republican Presidents.
5. Its members are so in thrall to the powerful conservative Republican figures they cover that they make up excuses for their self-serving behavior.
6. Its members ignore the substance of politics and instead focus obsessively on atmospherics, leaving voters clueless about the politicians for whom they are expected to vote.
the actions being contemplated, and certain to take effect, by the fcc with it’s current makeup, are clear indicators that it’s well past time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, which was abandoned in 1987 by the great pretender, ronald reagan, and make it applicable to the cable networks as well. failure to do so will result in the continuing erosion of the quality of information available to the people of this country.
another day another outrage.
lTMF’sA
I take it this is number 290 on the list?
yup…maybe even higher. CREW just released their TOP TEN ETHICS SCANDALS OF 2007.
haven’t checked to see if they’re on the list or not, but 300 is certainly achievable before the end of the year, and there’s still 1 more to go.
can we just lTMF’sA?
we know they control the media…
if they control the weather, they have placed us in the perfect storm, and we’re in the lil boat in the ocean of greed….
I’m looking for investors, to buy a small island somewhere, and offer vacations to people who want to get away from this shit for a while….think I’ll have many visitors ; )
Hi ip,
It better be an island with high elevations given the way the climate is going.
Then, I’ll join.
take over catalina island…just 22 mi. off the coast of socal, once under single ownership [rigley chewing gum family…apropos, eh]…great climate, become the mouse that roared and secede…it’ll take some serious $’s, but l’m all over that idea.
peace bro
.
WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission, overturning a 32-year-old ban, voted Tuesday to allow broadcasters in the nation’s 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the chairman described the media ownership proceeding as “the most contentious and divisive issue” to come before the commission.
That proved true as the two Democrats blasted Martin’s plan in unusually strong language for the normally sedate agency.
Martin said his proposal represented “a relatively minor loosening” of the cross-ownership rule. He noted concern for the steady decline in revenue for newspaper companies and said his proposal “strikes a balance” between the realities of the changing media marketplace and the preservation of diversity and competition in broadcasting.
As the commission loosened ownership requirements on one industry, it tightened the reins on another by approving a 30 percent national cap on subscribers for cable companies. The move, opposed by cable companies, would prevent a single cable television provider from serving 30 percent or more of the national pay television audience.
Martin was joined by the two Democrats in voting in favor of the cap while the two Republicans on the commission were opposed.
While Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein supported Martin on the cable cap, they were bitterly opposed to his media ownership rule.
The two men blasted Martin for making changes to his proposal “in the dead of night” and just prior to the meeting that they said created new loopholes in the rule instead of closing them, as Martin pledged during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.
FCC Press Statement
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."thanks oui!
just saw the update…l think it was a foregone conclusion that this was going to happen. at least there’s a response to the egregiousness ‘on record’.
here’s the money quote:
money doesn’t talk, it swears… l think bob dylan said that.
so much for keeping the republic, eh.
lTMF’sA