Airwaves & Liberty

Came across a column by Eric Alterman and George Zornick called “Think Again: FCC vs. The Public,” published yesterday at the Center for American Progress site. It reads, in part:

In recent years, and particularly since 2000, big media has had their way, like some mustachioed cartoon villain, and its aide-de-camp has almost always been the FCC. The agency has repeatedly pursued relaxed ownership rules, declined to investigate the involvement of telecommunications companies in warrantless wiretapping, and moved to protect and enhance the interests of large media conglomerates.

The rush toward media deregulation was already afoot when George W. Bush took office in January 2001. Ownership caps on radio stations were removed in 1996 following a bitter battle in Congress that was never once mentioned on the nightly news. (In fact, the only times the words “Telecommunications Act of 1996″ were ever mentioned on broadcast TV were once by Ted Koppel and once by Lisa Simpson. I swear I’m not making this up).

The act led to a dramatic reduction in the number of station owners-there are 30 percent fewer radio stations now than in 1996, and one company, Clear Channel, owns more than 1,200.

You can read the full article at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/03/fcc_vs_public.html. I was also just forwarded a response, written by Dr. Carolyn M. Byerly, professor in the Howard University Department of Journalism. She writes:

Alterman & Zornick’s article on the FCC under the Bush presidency does a decent overview of the politics associated with media regulation, but totally buries the gender and race truths buried in those politics. I just dropped Mr. Alterman a note mentioning that deregulation has not affected everyone evenly. Female and racial minority broadcast ownership has declined under both Telecomm Act of 1996 (a Clinton-era gift) and the Bush-dominated FCC. Single-digit ownership is not acceptable in a nation that calls itself a democracy. I offer these insights on the heels of Black History Month (Feb) and the eve of International Women’s Day (tomorrow, March 8).