FCC Passes Controversial Cross Ownership Rules

[Mark E. Smith]

Source: RADIOANDRECORDS.COM

By a vote of three Republicans to two Democrats, the FCC on
Tuesday (Dec.18) cleared a highly controversial measure to
allow a media company to own both a newspaper and a radio or
television station in the same Top 20 market as long as it
did so in the public market.

The vote flies in the face of a fast-growing and vocal pack
pack of Capitol Hill politicians who have banded together in
recent weeks hoping to stop the FCC's vote and threatening to
undo it with legislation and withdrawing funding if it took
place. Now the ball is in Congress' court.

Read more: http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/

---

Our heroes better step up and shut this one down fast.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. I'm watching the statements now... I thought they voted after?

:shrug:

I knew it didn't sound good, based on their comments. :(

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. Gaveled "Adopted" Hecklers and Protestors in the galley

5 min. recess called to restore order.

[Robbien]

3. Withdrawing funding to the FCC sounds like a wet dream of the GOP and media giants

No money means closing regulatory offices. Closed offices means Comcast etal can do what they please with no oversight. Not that the FCC today enforces many of their regulations over media giants.

Why are there still more GOPers on this board? Doesn't the Democratic majority mean anything these days?

[xxqqqzme]

14. commissioners appointed by prez

& to answer your rhetorical question - actually no, it means nothing.

[Recursion]

15. I think that's a 19th-century mindset that isn't true anymore

No FCC means no more sweetheart deals for huge corporations. Sadly, quite a few government agencies are actively helping huge corporations now -- a bizarre "worst of both worlds" scenario.

It's not as simple as "government power keeps corporations in check" anymore. Corporations actively use government power to maintain their own power and privilege. The FCC is a prime example.

[Robbien]

18. Thanks. That is a good way to think about it

Big media will no longer have its lapdog the FCC to help them in achieving their monopoly over the airwaves.

[onenote]

22. SInce 1934

The Communications Act has provided that Commissioners are appointed by the President (with the advice and consent of the Senate) for fixed terms (currently five years). No more than a bare majority of one can be from the same political party (i.e., with a five member FCC, no more can be from the same party). As has always been the case, the president's party gets the majority.

The fact that the Democrats captured control of the Senate in 2006 didn't change the make up of the FCC.

[napi21]

4. Is it possible for congress to do something about this?

I was thinking something like monopoly laws that are still in effect even though they aren't enforced anymore, or pass some new law that would specifically forbid single ownership of more than XX media outlets in a specific market?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. some answers to your questions here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2491688

[jus_the_facts]

5. Yeah...let's get Spiderman...Superman...Batman etc. ....on it ...RIGHT FUCKING NOW ...

....congress won't do shit to stop monopolies...in fact that's the NEW ORDER of *our* world. :eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

6. can they explain with a straight face how this is supposed to

serve the public interest in any way whatsoever?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. Those voting to pass it used the "failing newspapers" argument

and threw in generous helpings of "it's really a very small rule change".

[gratuitous]

8. Well, see, people get confused

If there are a lot of different voices saying different things, people get confused, and that could lead to terrorist attacks. You don't want terrorist attacks do you? Are you some kind of terrorist lover? You must be, because you want people to be confused!

See? It's perfectly logical. You terrorist lover. And now, here's Rush Limbaugh to explain it all further.

[tom_paine]

11. Nazis and Bushies alike believe that there is no such thing as "public interest"

There is only loyalty to Leader and Party.

[rodeodance]

9. Topic subject Kerry to FCC Chairman Martin: We're Not Gonna Take It

Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject Kerry to FCC Chairman Martin: We're Not Gonna Take It
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2491426#2491426
2491426, Kerry to FCC Chairman Martin: We're Not Gonna Take It
Posted by Breeze54 on Tue Dec-18-07 12:32 PM

Kerry to Martin: We're Not Gonna Take It

http://www.freepress.net/actionnetwork/node/335

Submitted by Senator Kerry on December 18, 2007 - 10:13am.

It’s great to be back addressing you here at the Free Press online community. You’ve all done a great job taking what used to be arcane telecommunications policy and injecting a very healthy dose of democratic activism into the mix.

As most of you probably already know, today is the day that Chairman Kevin Martin has decided the FCC will vote to relax the newspaper radio cross-ownership rule, which allow for greater concentration of ownership over the local media outlets across the country. The proposed rule is bad on the merits, and the process Martin has undertaken has been nothing short of disgraceful. He has ignored the duties chartered to the Commission, and he’s abrogated duties not chartered. He has undertaken a rush to judgment without any particular justification, choosing to ignore evidence that shows this rule change to be a step down the wrong path.

But we don’t have to take this lying down. I know a lot of you have already called or e-mailed your opposition to Chairman Martin’s proposal, and today’s your last day to try to delay the vote. And I just want you to know we’re doing all we can in the Senate to put some pressure on the FCC as well.


One particular problem with this rule is that studies have shown that greater consolidation of ownership discourages minority and women ownership over the media outlets. The FCC is specifically obligated to take that into account when considering these rule changes, but they haven’t given these questions nearly the attention they deserve. In fact, the Commission’s own studies show that the data collection on minority and female ownership of broadcast and telecommunications properties are incomplete and inadequate. Because of this, the Senate Commerce Committee made its intent clear by unanimously reporting out a bill that would expressly require the FCC to establish a panel investigating this issue and act on that panel’s recommendations before implementing the cross ownership rule change.

So far, the FCC has ignored this demonstrated intent. That’s why Senator Obama and I wrote a letter to Chairman Martin last week saying:

snip-->

In that letter, we let Chairman Martin know that, even if he goes ahead with it, this fight is not over:

With this in mind we are writing to notify you that if you proceed to take final action on this rule on December 18th without having given a reasonable opportunity for comment on the actual rules and study the related issues, we will immediately move legislation that will revoke and nullify the proposed rule. We are notifying you and others of this proposed action in order to make certain you understand the consequences of ignoring the need for and the right of the American people to play a constructive role in attempts by a federal agency to change rules that have a substantial impact on the American people.

In light of this, we request and expect that you will postpone the action scheduled for December 18, 2007.

Chairman Martin has decided to try to ramrod his through agenda despite widespread public and congressional disapproval, ignoring the explicit bipartisan intent of the Senate Commerce committee. I truly hope Chairman Martin and the rest of the FCC realizes the mistake they are making. You have made your voices heard, but if the FCC doesn’t listen, we’ll have to take the fight right to them.

I’ll keep you updated.

Senator Kerry's blog-> http://www.freepress.net/actionnetwork/blog/141

[jus_the_facts]

17. Oh PLEASE....keep bending over John.... it's what you do best. n/t

[paulk]

29. what the fuck is that supposed to mean?

why are you posting shit like this?

[jus_the_facts]

33. Same criminal fuckers he *exposed* 20 yrs ago....

...are still free and fuckin' shit up beyond the point of no return...and I should be thankful he's "not gonna take" THIS?! :nopity:

Excuse me for not giving a flying fuck through a flamin' hoola hoop what the FUCK he thinks or says anymore..it's all for naught from what I can see...not one fuckin' bit. :hi:

[paulk]

39. you're just another goddamn boo-bird

everything's "all for naught" for your type.

who needs ya.

[jus_the_facts]

40. Yeah when you two get through *savin' the world* from itself.....

....be sure to alert the media! :eyes:

[karynnj]

44. Somehow the Senator's actions have had more success than all your rude rants on DU

As you noted, he, nearly single handedly exposed these people. Can you name 10 people who did more? If he had had more support and had the more powerful Democrats of the 1980s not used the Iran/Contra hearings to showboat - while excluding Kerry, who knew more than any of them and had better skills as a prosecutor, they would not be in power now. Maybe if Bill Clinton had continued the BCCI investigations. There are plenty of people to blame - who placed their own comfort ahead of doing what is right - he didn't.

(Also on Iran/Contra, imagine if the Arkansas governor then was as much a hero as John Kerry was. What if he, given that there were rumors (if Kerry heard them in DC, the governor likely heard them too.), investigated what was going on and blew the whistle on the illegal gun and drug running. So, it could risk his political career, that was a risk the Senator took - at least 3 times in his career.)

[jus_the_facts]

45. ...and if... ifs and buts were candy and nuts.... oh what a wonderful world it would be....

...even with your *Saint Kerry* in it...it isn't...for all he's *accomplished* it hasn't done a whole helluva lot more than ANY rants on DU have,,..of course you're always entitled to your own reality though. :eyes:

[karynnj]

46. They did stop a similar measure in 2003

You also never know what would have been if someone did not do what they did. He did get BCCI closed and exposed and stopped some of the stuff with the Contras.

[jus_the_facts]

47. I think our current situation IS exactly BECAUSE of what he did.... and how he did it...

...just took them a little bit more time after that little blip in their agenda...and EVERYTHING is much worse NOW because of just how all that went down THEN....hindsight is a bitch isn't it?! :think:

[cascadiance]

10. How about passing public campaign financing RIGHT NOW!

So that we can strip down what money can be given to these companies for the coming election for political ads!

I know, I know! It will never work since we probably can't pass it right now!

But perhaps we can indicate that this sort of move would ACCELERATE our move to get this on the docket to be one of the first things that gets passed in a larger Democratic majority congress in 2009 which would take back a lot of the cash these media companies have been getting over the last few years with the no-holds barred campaign spending we've been going through!

[Justitia]

13. Shit! This is BAD, BAD, BAD - you think you've seen propaganda? You ain't seen nothing yet!

This consolidation, Pravda style, will make our lives immeasurably harder in getting the truth out there to the masses.

This absolutely cannot stand, and it must stop before the predatory big media are allowed to swoop in and gobble up.

:nuke:

[IndyOp]

16. Kerry will immediately move legislation that will revoke & nullify the new rule

see his statement upthread.

[eagler]

19. Two words - FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

It is needed now more than ever!

[Triana]

25. bingo! REINSTATE that sucker! (n/t)

[DeanDem10]

35. Fairness Doctrine

Indeed!

[onenote]

43. question for discussion: should newspapers be subject to the fairness doctrine?

My view: no.

[Khaotic]

20. Demand that Congress overturn the FCC rules

Don't just post here ... get over to www.stopbigmedia.com and push Congress to overturn this insanity!!!!!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

32. More specifically.... write to:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/sbmopenletter

[GETPLANING]

21. George Carlin is right

The owners of this country don't give a damn what you and I think or want.

[whistle]

23. Our heroes better step up and shut this one down fast. -- 100% AGREE!

[liberal hypnotist]

24. Maybe TV and Print media are just obsolete.

Maybe it is time to let them have their toys and protect the internet.

TV sucks. Newspapers are boring and too expensive to advertise in.

Let the ruling class bath in obsolete media magnificence

[McCamy Taylor]

26. Here is link to why this doubles GOP propaganda for next year, from my journal this weekend

for anyone who missed it

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/109

"Propaganda Bureau Expands: If Enough Sources Repeat the Big Lie It Starts to Sound True"

I added the most important part in the 1st discussion post, so I will post it here again:

PS Why the FCC's Legal Maneuver Is So Insidious: It Makes Tribune Co. Subject to GOP Blackmail in a

way that a simple waiver or extension would not. This is because if the Tribune Co. knew that it has two years to get its house in order, it might start lobbying the next likely administration---say that of a Democratic presidential nominee---for favors. However, this Extension Prime can be revoked at any time by the FCC. All Martin has to do is decide to mount an unexpected aggressive legal challenge to the Tribune's appeal. If the FCC shows up in court with the full weight of the federal government and all the testimony of thousands of angry citizens and both parties of Congress demanding that the Tribune Co. comply with the law, then even an "industry friendly" court will rule against the Tribune Co. Sam Zell knows this.

The crazy way in which The Tribune Co. got its extension ensures that it is "dependent upon the kindness of strangers" to quote Tennessee Williams. In other words, it is a media whore, and it must please the Bush administration, which wants a Republican president in office in 2009, a president who will continue the war for oil in Iraq and a Republican Attorney General who will not prosecute any Bush administration official for torture or obstruction of justice or graft or corruption.

[SteppingRazor]

27. How is this different than what we have now?

There have been so many waivers granted to companies to break the cross-ownership rules that the rules have been essentially meaningless.

[fascisthunter]

28. Difference Between the Government or Coprorations Controlling

the news? None.

[desk]

30. Good

Finally a ruling upholding the Freedom of the Press

[McCamy Taylor]

31. Read my post. This is the FCC controlling the content of The Tribune Co. for the forseeable future.

If The Tribune Co. does not kiss Bush Administration you know what, Martin at the FCC can revoke the special dispensation that he gave Sam Zell that allowed him to save millions in his acquisition of The Tribune Co.

Now Zell, who is a Republican and who wants to write propaganda for the Republicans can tell his editors "You tell your writers that they had better keep Bush, Cheney and the RNC happy or the FCC will make me break up The Tribune Co. empire, which will mean that I will start lay offs, and your staff will be without jobs in a market in which journalism work is being out sourced to India."

Anyone who thinks that this is the same as freedom of the press needs his or her head examined.

The FCC now controls what every single property at the Tribune Co. writes and says at least until after the 2008 elections.

This is the exact same way that the Bush Administration gained control of Viacom/CBS through Sumner Redstone---and the way they got rid of Dan Rather and 60 Minutes.

Desk, welcome to DU. Whose Desk do you represent?

[DeanDem10]

36. It's the funeral for what's left of

investigative reporting.

[McCamy Taylor]

41. McClatchy still reports. And there is still the Internet and the foreign press.

But the voice of propaganda will be twice as loud now.

[KAZ]

38. Turn your head to the right, and you'll see his desk. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

42. uh.....no

[DeanDem10]

34. Strip away FCC funding

Cut them off. Put them out of business. They are not doing their duty. Put em out of their misery and send em home. Congress must doesn't start using the purse to stop the craziness.

[mitchum]

37. Another piece of "the permanent republican majority"