FCC ordered "every last piece" of report on media ownership destroyed

[dajoki]

MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14836500/

Media ownership study ordered destroyed
FCC draft suggested fewer owners would hurt local TV coverage

Updated: 3:08 p.m. ET Sept 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.

The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. received a copy of the report "indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public," according to Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.

<<snip>>

'Every last piece' destroyed
Adam Candeub, now a law professor at Michigan State University, said senior managers at the agency ordered that "every last piece" of the report be destroyed. "The whole project was just stopped - end of discussion," he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC's Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said.

In a letter sent to Martin Wednesday, Boxer said she was "dismayed that this report, which was done at taxpayer expense more than two years ago, and which concluded that localism is beneficial to the public, was shoved in a drawer."

[OzarkDem]

1. Fine, we'll just do another study

When Dems take back Congress.

[dajoki]

7. If! Im confident but...

not over confident.

[cyberpj]

2. FCC now writing rules again, could allow more consolidation, say no here:

I just went to HearUsNow.org and sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission and Congress asking them to protect the media.

The FCC is writing rules again that could result in even more media consolidation and less diversity in our news and entertainment choices.

Go to http://cu.convio.net/media06 and take action.

When big media companies own most of the radio and TV stations and local newspapers in town, less attention gets paid to community needs and interests and fewer voices and opinions are aired.

You too can make a difference! Tell the FCC to stop media consolidation! Be part of the official record, and urge the FCC and Congress to ensure that we have reasonable media rules that ensure diversity, localism and competition.

Go to http://cu.convio.net/media06 and take action.

[Bjorn Against]

3. This is important rate it up.

Corporate media consolidation is hurting our democracy more than pretty much anything else. Just look how many major stories we read about on DU and the blogs that go unreported by the corporate media. How come most people haven't heard of the voting irregularities? How come we don't hear about Bush's specific war crimes? How come we don't see the daily images of environmental destruction on the nightly news?

If we had an independent media in this country we would learn a lot more. As it is five companies control the large bulk of what we see and hear.

[The Wielding Truth]

4. k &r

[texpatriot2004]

5. K & R nm

[Wilms]

6. K&R n/t

[rman]

8. ...as the Mexican illigit govt burns disputed ballots

Mexican Officials to Burn Ballots
Mexican electoral officials say they will destroy ballots from disputed presidential vote
MEXICO CITY, Sep. 13, 2006
By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press Writer
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/13/ap/world/mainD8K3NT8O1.shtml

--

They used to be secretitive about destroying evidence, it seems they think that besides corruption and conflict of interest, this to is now acceptable to the public at large.

[otohara]

9. Sorta Shocked MSNBC Reported This

Remember how they kept the big revolt by the "general public" when they tried to get more consolodation back when this group of criminals first took over the government? The senate overturned FCC decission. The media was mum during the whole thing. Just goes to show you....where their interests lay.