FYI Important...

[YvonneCa]

...information on FCC and media consolidation.

http://reclaimthemedia.org/legislation_and_regulation/what_the_fcc_dc_gets_less_than%3D553


Let them hear from you. :)

[alfredo]

1. We need to fight this.

[slipslidingaway]

2. K&R, without the media any topic can easily be ignored...

I'm just not sure what to do?


From your link

"Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein responded with this statement:

"Tonight’s Public Notice doesn’t bode well for the future of the Commission’s localism and media ownership proceedings. Over two weeks ago, we agreed to clear our calendars for the possibility of a localism hearing in Washington on Oct 31st. But neither we nor the public received any confirmation that the hearing would occur until tonight—just 5 business days before the event. This is unacceptable and unfair to the public. And it makes putting together an expert panel nearly impossible.

"Is the Commission serious about allowing the public to participate in the agency’s decision-making? Or is the goal to be able to claim that hearings have been held, even if the public has not had a chance to fully participate?"

Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver issued the following statement:
"How can you have a hearing on localism without giving the local community time to find out it is happening? Chairman Martin's actions suggest that he's never been serious about paying attention to the public. He's already made up his mind, and is hell-bent on gutting the rules.

"This is a slap in the face to the vast majority of Americans who oppose consolidation and a direct insult to the bipartisan members of Congress who have called for a fair and transparent public process. The chairman is ignoring the undeniable evidence that media consolidation has a devastating impact on local news and diversity."

[YvonneCa]

3. Voice your opinion...

...with your reps in Congress, at the FCC and write letters to local papers (sooner rather than later)... 5 days is this Friday.

[YvonneCa]

5. And spread the word...

...to other blogs. :7

[slipslidingaway]

6. If I knew exactly what I was arguing for :)....

looking at the embedded link from your article. I'll keep this kicked for now, my Rep in the House was on Rove's 'to be defended list' :(


http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-277560A1.pdf

Here is the first item???

TITLE: Implementation of Section 224 of the Act; Amendment of the Commission’s Rules and Policies Governing Pole Attachments (RM-11293, RM-11303)

SUMMARY: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning appropriate changes, if any, to its implementation of Section 224 of the Act, governing access to pole attachments.

[YvonneCa]

7. Did you see this link...

,,,

http://reclaimthemedia.org/legislation_and_regulation/fcc_to_announce_final_media_ow%3D5518


It gives more background.

[slipslidingaway]

8. Thanks I'll look at that link, think this aspect is important as well.

"BILL MOYERS: What concerns you about private equity buying news outlets and-- and-- and other media?

MICHAEL COPPS: What concerns me is we have not asked the question of the FCC, is, does this transformation in-- in our capitalistic system inhibit somehow our ability to protect the public interest? Now, I'm not ready to say private equity is bad all the time or is good all the time. I think there are a lot of private equity deals that are probably good if you can get away from that quarterly bottom line.

On the other hand I don't know who owns who under private equity. And they don't have to tell me. But I'm supposed to be protecting what these companies do in so far as their obligation to serve the public interest.

So, can I still do my job as well? Do I know who to attribute ownership to? Do I know who to go to if there's a problem or a violation in the telecommunications act?

[slipslidingaway]

4. Bill Moyers interview with Michael Copps

Video
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08242007/watch.html

There is also a transcript available at the link above.

"BILL MOYERS: You said in a recent speech that-- that America's playing Russian roulette with all of our media. Broadband, internet, television, radio, newspapers. How so?

MICHAEL COPPS: Well, we're going at it without a policy. We're going at it without a vision. We're going at it without realizing what these things mean to the future of our country. Whether it's broadcast or broadband.The public airwaves are to be used for serving the public interest. Expanding our cultural horizon, covering community news, enabling the democratic dialogue. Increasingly, we have moved away from that vision and they're being used for corporate profitability.

BILL MOYERS: And some people will say, that's the market, Michael Copps. That's the way business and capitalism work.

MICHAEL COPPS: But the market is a little bit different than the public airwaves. This is our most precious resource I think in the United States of America and probably the most influential businesses we have is media, is communications...

BILL MOYERS: What concerns you about private equity buying news outlets and-- and-- and other media?"

[slipslidingaway]

9. How to Contact the FCC...

http://www.fcc.gov/contacts.html

To Obtain Information via Telephone

1-888-225-5322 (1-888-CALL FCC) Voice: toll-free
1-888-835-5322 (1-888-TELL FCC) TTY: toll-free
1-866-418-0232 FAX: toll-free
[phone] FAX on Demand
[phone] Elections & political candidate matters


You might have to use the link above???

To Contact the Commissioners via E-mail

Chairman Kevin J. Martin: [e-mail]
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: [e-mail]
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: [e-mail]
Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate: [e-mail]
Commissioner Robert McDowell: [e-mail]


http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08242007/watch.html

"MICHAEL COPPS: When we had this near disaster four years ago when then Chairman Powell tried to impose new rules and actually got them through the commission over Commissioner Edelstein and my objections, I think those folks thought this wasn't something that really concerned the American people. Two arcane signal contour over-- overlap. And how many outlets can a company own.

But we go out and tell the people, these are your airwaves we're talking about. And they remember that they-- they own those airwaves. And we've got this little agency on the shores of the Anacostia River mucking around with them in secret. Don't want to have a lot of hearings or anything like that.

They got mad. So three million people, three million people contacted the FCC back in 2003. When I went there in 2001, I didn't know three million people knew there was a place called the Federal Communications Commission. But they knew.

And about 99 percent of them, 99.9 percent were-- were adamantly opposed to what we were doing. And Congress, the Senate went on to disapprove Powell's rules. The court sent them back to the commission to redo.

Citizen action can still work. We all get kind of frustrated in the 21st century. And you know, the big guys rule everything. And to a large extent, they-- they have too much power. But concentrated citizen action can still work. When three million Americans speak up, Congress pays attention. The country pays attention. And things can happen. And they can still happen. And that's where my hope is right now..."

[cascadiance]

10. Real life example last week of how consolidation is a DANGER to the community...

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!

[slipslidingaway]

13. Thanks n/t

[crickets]

11. Interesting recent thread on this

Senators threaten to block media ownership plan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3042725

Good links scattered in the conversation.

This burns me up. Media consolidation is a horrible idea; it does no good for anyone but the conglomerates. It blocks local input into content and nullifies local communications during emergencies, essentially taking the public airwaves out of the public's hands. It looks like the FCC is trying to pull an end run around us - again.

[slipslidingaway]

14. Great and thank you for posting that here n/t

[bonito]

12. K&R!

[crickets]

15. Kick!

:dem: