[DMCA-Activists] [Fwd: Stop Media Monopoly]

[Larry Garfield]

Not DRM-related, yet, but I figure it's only a matter of time so I 
thought I would pass it on, if only for informational value.  A monopoly 
can impliment such measures much more easily and quietly than our 
current cartel.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Stop Media Monopoly
Date:   Thu, 8 May 2003 15:06:08 -0700 (PDT)
From:   Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org <address@hidden>
To:     Larry Garfield <address@hidden>



Dear MoveOn member,

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission is planning on
authorizing sweeping changes to the American news media. The rule
changes could allow your local TV stations, newspaper, radio stations,
and cable provider to all be owned by one company. NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox
could have the same corporate parent. The resulting concentration of
ownership could be deeply destructive to our democracy.

When we talk to Congresspeople about this issue, their response is
usually the same: "We only hear from media lobbyists on this. It seems
like my constituents aren't very concerned with this issue." A few
thousand emails could permanently change that perception. Please join us
in asking Congress and the FCC to fight media deregulation at:

http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/?id=1344-1603669-j7GyIEWlQ4uOEvpfHW5arw

After the FCC and Congress relaxed radio ownership rules, corporate
giant Clear Channel Communications swept in and bought hundreds of
stations. Clear Channel has used its might to support pro-war political
rallies and conservative talk shows, keep anti-war songs off its
stations, coerce musicians into playing free promotional concerts, and
bully them into performing at its music venues. In many towns that used
to have a diverse array of radio options, Clear Channel is now the only
thing on the dial.

Monopoly power is a dangerous thing, and Congress is supposed to guard
against it. But the upcoming rule change could change the landscape for
all media and usher in an era in which a few corporations control your
access to news and entertainment. Please tell Congress and the FCC to
support a diverse, competitive media landscape by going to:

http://www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/?id=1344-1603669-j7GyIEWlQ4uOEvpfHW5arw

You can also automatically have your comments publicly filed at the FCC.

Democracy is built on the idea that the views and beliefs of an informed
citizenry are the best basis for political decision-making. Without
access to fair and balanced news, the system simply doesn't work. And
media corporations can't be trusted to balance themselves: news
corporations have shown again and again that they're willing to
sacrifice journalism to improve the bottom line. That's why we need many
media entities -- to keep each other honest, and to provide the
information and ideas that make democracy happen.

Please join this critical campaign, and let Congress know you care.

Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser
  MoveOn.org
  May 8th, 2003

P.S. Here's a copy of our recent bulletin on this subject. To sign up
for the bulletin, just click here:
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/


    SHOWDOWN AT THE FCC

MoveOn Bulletin
Friday, May 2, 2003
Co-Editors: Don Hazen and Lakshmi Chaudry, AlterNet

Subscribe online at:
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking here:
http://moveon.org/s?i=1344-1603669-j7GyIEWlQ4uOEvpfHW5arw

CONTENTS:
1. Eli Pariser: Why Worry About Who Owns the Media? <#1>
2. Jeff Chester: Showdown at the FCC <#2>
3. Neil Hickey: The Gathering Storm Over Media Ownership <#3>
4. Bill Moyers: Barry Diller Takes On Media Deregulation <#4>
5. Danny Schechter: The Media, the War, and Our Right to Know <#5>
6. Eric Boehlert: Clear Channel's Big Stinking Deregulation Mess <#6>
7. Paul Schmelzer: The Death of Local News <#7>
8. Caryl Rivers: Where Have All the Women Gone? <#8>
9. About the Bulletin <#9>

------------------------------

*WHY WORRY ABOUT WHO OWNS THE MEDIA?*
MoveOn Bulletin Op-Ed
by Eli Pariser

It's like something out of a nightmare, but it really happened: At 1:30
on a cold January night, a train containing hundreds of thousands of
gallons of toxic ammonia derails in Minot, North Dakota. Town officials
try to sound the emergency alert system, but it isn't working. Desperate
to warn townspeople about the poisonous white cloud bearing down on
them, the officials call their local radio stations. But no one answers
any of the phones for an hour and a half. According to the New York
Times, three hundred people are hospitalized, some are partially
blinded, and pets and livestock are killed.

Where were Minot's DJs on January 18th, 2002? Where was the late night
station crew? As it turns out, six of the seven local radio stations had
recently been purchased by Clear Channel Communications, a radio giant
with over 1,200 stations nationwide. Economies of scale dictated that
most of the local staff be cut: Minot stations ran more or less on auto
pilot, the programming largely dictated from further up the Clear
Channel food chain. No one answered the phone because hardly anyone
worked at the stations any more; the songs played in Minot were the same
as those played on Clear Channel stations across the Midwest.

Companies like Clear Channel argue that economies of scale allow them to
cut costs while continuing to provide quality programming. But they do
so at the expense of local coverage. It's not just about emergency
warnings: media mergers are decreasing coverage of local political
races, local small businesses, and local events. There are only a third
as many owners of newspapers and TV stations as there were in the 1970s
(about 600 now; over 1,500 then). It's harder and harder for Americans
to find out what's going on in their own back yards.

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering
relaxing or getting rid of rules to allow much more media concentration.
While the actual rule changes are under wraps, they could allow enormous
changes in the American media environment. For example, one company
could be allowed to own ABC, CBS, and NBC. Almost certainly, media
companies will be allowed to own newspapers and TV stations in the same
town. We could be entering a new era of media megaliths.

Do you want one or two big companies acting as gatekeepers and
controlling your access to news and entertainment? Most of us don't. And
the airwaves explicitly belong to us -- the American people. We allow
media companies to use them in exchange for their assurance that they're
serving the public interest, and it's the FCC's job to make sure that's
so. For the future of American journalism, and for the preservation of a
diverse and local media, we have the hold the FCC to its mission.
Otherwise, Minot's nightmare may become our national reality.

------------------------------

Interested in taking on the FCC and other media-related concerns? Join
the MoveOn Media Corps, a group of over 29,000 committed Americans
working for a fair and balanced media. You can sign up now at:
http://www.moveon.org/mediacorps/

------------------------------

*SHOWDOWN AT THE FCC*
Jeffrey Chester and Don Hazen, AlterNet
Despite wide protests and the Clear Channel debacle, the FCC is about to
award the nation's biggest media conglomerates a new give-away that will
further concentrate media ownership in fewer hands. The impact on the
American media landscape could be disastrous. Recent TV coverage of the
Iraq war already illustrates that US media companies aren't interested
in providing a serious range of analysis and debate. This overview
describes what's at stake and offers an introduction to the following
articles.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15796

------------------------------

*THE GATHERING STORM OVER MEDIA OWNERSHIP*
Neil Hickey, Columbia Journalism Review
CJR's editor-at-large explains just what is at stake in this fight over
media ownership. He provides an in-depth look at the issues, and major
players in a battle that is pitting journalists against their bosses,
breaking up old alliances, and gathering momentum as the day of
reckoning draws near. He traces the snowballing trend of media
consolidation and its implications for the future, revealing just how
the drive for profit is eroding diversity, local control, and more
importantly giving a few mega-corporations a monopoly over the
dissemination of news.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15654

------------------------------

*BARRY DILLER TAKES ON MEDIA DEREGULATION*
Bill Moyers, Now with Bill Moyers
The founder of Fox Broadcasting and present CEO of USA Networks is an
unlikely but passionate opponent of plans to loosen media ownership
rules. In an interview with Bill Moyers, the media mogul explains how
deregulation creates corporations with "such overwhelming power in the
marketplace that everyone has to do essentially what they say." Diller
argues that government regulation is essential to prevent media
companies from controlling everything we see, read, and hear. As he puts
it, "Who else is gonna do it for us?"
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15768

------------------------------

*THE MEDIA, THE WAR, AND OUR RIGHT TO KNOW*
Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org
Why did the media do such a poor job of reporting on the Iraq war? The
boosterism of news anchors, the suppression of antiwar views, and the
sanitized images of war that defined television coverage are not a
simple matter of bias or ineptitude, says media analyst Danny Schechter.
He draws attention to the connection between the decisions made by
journalists and the lobbying efforts of owners who will profit immensely
from the upcoming FCC decision in June.
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/moveon.shtml

------------------------------

*CLEAR CHANNEL'S BIG STINKING DEREGULATION MESS*
Eric Boehlert, Salon
Clear Channel, the radio and concert conglomerate, has been the greatest
beneficiary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which stripped all
ownership limits in the radio industry. The rapacious company, led by
Bush supporter Lowry Mays, has grown from 40 stations to 1,225 since
then, and now uses its power to routinely bully advertisers and record
companies, and more recently censor antiwar artists. However, as Eric
Boehlert points out, its "success" may be the most powerful weapon in
the arsenal of media activists. Clear Channel's stranglehold on the
radio industry is the best and clearest example of the effects of
rampant deregulation.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15281

------------------------------

*THE DEATH OF LOCAL NEWS*
Paul Schmelzer, AlterNet
Meet the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the "Clear Channel of local news."
Since 1991, the company has managed to acquire 62 television stations or
24 percent of the national TV audience. The company's modus operandi is
the centralized production of homogenized, repackaged faux "local" news.
Its success offers an alarming glimpse of the post-deregulation world in
which all news may be produced in one giant newsroom and from a single
viewpoint -- which in Sinclair's case is wholeheartedly conservative.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15718.

------------------------------

*WHERE HAVE ALL THE WOMEN GONE?*
Caryl Rivers, Women's Enews
Once the war on Iraq took center-stage in the headlines of newspapers
and magazines across the country, women writers became increasingly rare
in the media. In their place are mostly white men who write on a narrow
band of foreign policy issues, mostly recycling their views over and
over again. From the all-male line-ups in the op-ed pages of the
Washington Post and the New York Times to the dwindling female bylines
in the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, women's voices have been caught
in a "spiral of silence" that is unprecedented since the pre-women's
movement days.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15677

------------------------------

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--
Larry Garfield                  AIM: LOLG42
address@hidden          ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an 
idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it 
to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the 
possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of 
it."  -- Thomas Jefferson