GC Daily: Now Owned By Viacom

(from Craig P:) Oh boo hoo, the megacorporations who own most major media outlets were really struggling to make ends meet and needed Uncle Sam to come to the rescue with its Magic Deregulation Pill. Didn't we go down this road before? This is all following the recent trend of two-paper towns becoming one-paper towns, from Cleveland to San Francisco (unless you count the Examiner as a real newspaper, which I don't). So here's the story, as reported on Alternet:

The FCC voted along strict partisan lines Monday morning to further loosen restrictions on media ownership. Thanks to FCC chief Michael Powell and his two Republican colleagues, a single broadcast network can now own stations that reach a combined total of 45 percent of the national audience. Worse, the commissioners also voted to lift the cross-ownership ban that prevented a company from owning both a newspaper.

By the way, in case you missed it or still don't believe we live in an oligarchy, Michael Powell is the same one who happens to be the offspring of Secretary of State Colin Powell, increasing the level of insidiousness even further. (Is it just me or does Powell the Younger look like a black Casey Affleck, with an extra-smarmy "I know what's good for you" look on his face?) Recent TV coverage of the war/ invasion/ whatever in Iraq demonstrated that US media companies aren't interested in providing a serious range of analysis and debate. Alternet gives a fine overview of what was at stake with the FCC decision.

One part of the agreement that jumped out to me states that a corporation can own two TV stations in the same metropolitan area market, but only one can be among the top 4 stations in the ratings. So, big deal right? So what happens if that second station, not in the top 4 when purchased, works its way up to the top 4 while still owned by the same corporation? Is the corporation forced to sell? No, of course not -- and then they'll have two stations in the top 4, giving them free reign to feature double the news or political coverage with essentially the same point of view. Oh, and in larger markets where there are at least 18 stations, like Los Angeles, a company will now be allowed to own three stations. Okay, so I grew up near LA, and will admit that it was often hard to tell the difference between some of the newscasts, reaching as they were wont to do for new lows in blinking vapidity (picture Futurama's year 3000 newscasts with the giggling bubbly blonde lady accompanied by the hulking, evil alien, and you'll have seen an only slight exaggeration on Fox LA's newscasts). However, LA, like San Francisco, and most other large metropolitan areas in the US has always offered several quality newscasts, ones not actually sinking to the lowest common denominator. And this could potentially allow one corporation to own the NBC, CBS and ABC station in a major market. Now picture how the ruling could essentially effect such crucial tenets of American democracy as local political races, and local events.

Now, one could argue that this won't change our media landscape much -- that things already suck, and that ClearChannel Communications already owns practically everything -- so why should you care? At last count, the right-leaning company owned 13 radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. When the company purchased popular SF hip-hop and soul station KMEL, one of its first items of business was to fire popular DJ Davey D Cook, ostensibly for "budget cuts." Yeah, and it had nothing to do with Cook's on-air interview with local Representative Barbara Lee (who was the one Rep. to speak out against a war after 9/11) the week before. That same week, that same Clear Channel -- owner of more than 1,100 other radio stations nationwide -- distributed a list of 150 songs it suggested its stations not air in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks.

I've compiled a few other compelling reasons as to why you should think that this FCC decision is corrupt and stupid.

Here's one story, relayed via Eli Pariser at MoveOn:

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.

This is the new reality we're faced with now after this FCC decision.

Another reason this sucks: Disney, CCC, Fox, Viacom and GE (owner of NBC) are all thrilled with the decision. And on the other side, hell, in the strange bedfellows department, you have the NRA and MoveOn, on the same side of the argument.

Some further reading on the matter: Tom Shales, the Washington Post's media columnist, thinks Powell is trying to make a name for himself. Also interesting in that column is the quote from media mogul Barry Diller (now the owner of USA Networks, and the founder of Fox Broadcasting), who said that he's "upset that this has not produced enough conversation and dialogue. The way Michael Powell has gone about it is to hide the issue as much as possible, organizing it to avoid debate and hearings, and getting it done largely under the cover of night."

Also an important read is the Columbia Journalism Review's Neil Hickey, who provides an in-depth look at all the issues and players involved in this battle. And while we're at it, where have all the women gone, asks Cheryl Rivers. Those op-ed pages are looking awfully male these days.

So why should you not give up hope?

Because even though it's looking less and less like a democracy these days (and Canada's looking better and better, South Park invasions notwithstanding), and freedom of speech is being trampled into the ground (just ask the woebegotten Dixie Chicks) -- hey, this is still a democracy. You can still write.

Conservative columnist William Safire is on the same page as Ted Turner about something, and a lot of ordinary citizens are mad, too -- MoveOn got 180,000 people to sign on to a formal protest. You can spread it around. Next year's an election year: You can still vote, too. While you're at it, you can still turn off these radio and TV stations.