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.
