-Caveat Lector- >PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE tell me where I may hear the right wing pro- Republican media!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe you missed this one: ************ From: radman Sent: Tue 5/22/2001 1:08 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [CTRL] Big media pushes news to the far right -Caveat Lector- Tuesday, May 22, 2001 Big media pushes news to the far right <http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/default.jsp?story=OPfuchs0506w> The biggest lie fed the American people by conservative pundits is that the United States is dominated by the "liberal media." As if Rupert Murdoch, Michael Eisner, General Electric, Time-Warner AOL and Viacom are owned and operated by liberals. Not only are these folks ultra-conservatives, but the people they hire to voice their opinions are so far to the right, they give independent journalism a dirty name. No, my friends, the corporate media is in the hands of right-wing kooks parading as moderates and pushing the political envelope further and further to the right. That great political scientist Hannah Arendt said American democracy would live or die as a result of the marketplace of ideas. If the marketplace is closed down because one political philosophy predominates, than democracy will die. And that has happened over a period of time because of the burgeoning power of media conglomerates and the destruction of independent journalism. Now we are about to see another major assault on media journalism by the Federal Communications Commission. The new chair of the FCC is Michael Powell, the son of Colin Powell. For decades the Supreme Court has ruled that no media company should own more than one medium in a market and that television market penetration should be limited to no more than 35 percent. That ruling helped provide competition in the marketplace and a diversity of ideas. The rulings also prohibited cross-ownership of radio, newspapers and television in the same market. But now the FCC and the appeals courts have become sympathetic to the free speech rights of corporations and more skeptical of the role of government in promoting diversity in the mass media. Of course, the nation's largest TV networks, cable companies and other media businesses have become powerful financial contributors to political parties. Powell is invoking free speech in his interpretation of the rules governing broadcast restrictions. He objects to the government imposing rules that limit how many people one company can talk to. He says, "There is something offensive to First Amendment values about that limitation." The FCC will review this rule and determine what modifications are warranted. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has a case before it that involves just that issue as Viacom, Inc., the parent company of CBS, finds out whether it has to divest stations to come in compliance with the 35 percent cap. Earlier this year the D.C. appeals court threw out similar restrictions on cable TV companies, an action many believe signaled a change in the networks' war against the broadcast limit. In that case the court determined that limiting the number of subscribers one company can reach, impeded too heavily on free speech. And within a few weeks officials at the FCC said the agency will begin to loosen a 26-year-old regulation restricting a company from owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market. Some consumer groups have denounced the court's decision, saying it would further concentrate media power in many markets with limited competition, sharply reducing the diversity of viewpoints on the airwaves and diminishing the number of companies. These rules, which the courts and Powell want to do away with, have protected the American public's access to news, information and programming reflecting many political views, different perspectives and tastes. The erosion of these protections means that the ultra-conservatives will not only dominate the airwaves, but monopolize it. What Powell and the courts are missing in all this is that since the beginning of radio, the federal government has regulated the airwaves, taking the unequivocal position that it belongs to the people, not to the corporations. Businesses were allowed to broadcast using the airwaves as long as they maintained certain rules and standards. People like Rush Limbaugh could never make it on radio because of a rule that gave equal time to persons to respond to political attacks by commentators. Radio commentators were very careful in how they broached their attacks in the old days. That rule went out when Ronald Reagan became president and Democrats in Congress agreed to the change. Perhaps the best example of where the media in this country is headed is best illustrated by Jane Akre and Steve Wilson. They won the Goldman Environmental Prize for trying to report on the potentially cancerous, genetically modified hormone rBGH in milk. Under pressure from Monsanto, the manufacturer, Fox Network refused to air the reports and eventually fired the journalists. Akre successfully sued Fox for violating Florida's whistle-blower law and is now defending the settlement in the appeal process. But no other television network picked up on that report, or approached the two to have them report this important piece of news. We are sterilizing the news in this country and every media company is in lock-step making certain that corporate America's interests are protected against reporters who would challenge them by broadcasting the truth. < <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER =========CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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