Reply #10: Real life example last week of how consolidation is a DANGER to the community... [View All]

[cascadiance]

Folks, when calling these people, don't only play the media fair and balanced card, as some of the wingnuts won't want to listen to you.

Remind them ALSO that media consolidation in a community is not only a problem in terms of getting all points of view heard, but also in terms of DANGER to the community in that they are a single point of failure.

This was illustrated last week during the San Diego wildfires. When they first hit, on Monday there was a few hours where ALL of the Clear Channel owned stations were DOWN and OFF THE AIR (presumably because all of their broadcasting towers were "consolidated" in one location and powered by one source)! Remind the wingnut FCC officials that this actually DID HAPPEN last week! Now imagine what might have happened if they owned ALL of the radio stations in this community instead of just a few and radio stations like KFMB were owned by them and also off the air too. We might have had people DIE in the interest of making profits from streamlining with this drive towards profit-oriented consolidation if they aren't adequately informed in a time of emergency. If we had a lightning strike or a terrorist strike against ONE set of towers that might happen through consolidation, that will make our infrastructure that much more vulnerable!

This is an issue that I think we should also be talking about to other conservative groups which should be a cause for concern to them too, and as Naomi Klein reminds us with The Shock Doctrine, these folks are driven by fear, and this is a good card to play in that sense. Have THEM remind their Republican and conservative government officials that this is a problem for them too! It isn't just about media fairness, it is about making sure that our airwaves remain a public service, especially when they are needed like they were this last week.

Regulatory structures and control ARE needed over our airwaves. "Free market" consolidation and monopolization are NOT healthy in MANY respects!