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Greens Oppose FCC Deregulation. |
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MEDIA RELEASE Friday, January 10, 2003 Contacts: GREENS OPPOSE FCC DEREGULATION FCC scheme to allow media monopolies would damage the American public's access to open and diverse news, information, and entertainment. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Media Committee of the Green Party of the United States, expressing the concerns of Greens and millions of other Americans, has sent a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider deregulation of media. "FCC Chair Michael Powell's plan to ease restrictions on media ownership will severely damage the public's access to news and information," said Holly Hart, Iowa Green, co-chair of the Green Party's Platform Committee, and author of the letter. "Democracy requires a free press -- news and opinions from lots of different sources with various viewpoints and biases. This FCC ruling would allow a few giant media conglomerates to swallow up telephone networks, small newspapers, and TV and radio stations. The only news and entertainment we'll have is what gets approved by AOL Time Warner, Viacom, Disney, Fox, and a few others." Greens note the damage that has already been done by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, signed by Clinton, which weakened rules prohibiting a community's lone local newspaper to be owned by the same corporation that owns local TV and radio stations. "Imagine a town in which the only opinions one could find on TV, radio, or in the newspaper might be those of Rush Limbaugh," said Jo Chamberlain, a California Green and member of the party's national Steering Committee. Apologists for deregulation say that the Internet provides a sufficient variety of news, information, and opinion, enough to relax restrictions on other media. But the Internet itself faces a parallel threat, since broadband requires the use of cable (DSL) lines, which are already too expensive for millions of Americans -- many of whom still can't afford to go on line even through basic phone-line service or still lack basic computer skills. In March 2002, the Bush Administration allowed cable companies to lock out rival broadband providers, consolidating monopolies in most markets. "High-speed Internet access is rapidly becoming the property of two companies, AOL Time Warner and Verizon, giving them the license to raise prices at will and to hinder access to certain web sites," said Mark Dunlea, Chair of the Green Party of New York State, cofounder of the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center, and author of 'The Cable TV Omission: A Performance Audit of the NYS Commission on Cable Television.' "Ceding control our broadcast media to a few big corporations is exactly the sort of obscenity the FCC is supposed to keep off the air," added Santa Monica, CA, Mayor pro tem Kevin McKeown, a former disk jockey and radio news anchor. "The reason for historic strict anti-monopoly regulation of radio and TV is that the airwaves belong to the people, and broad diversity of on-air voices must be preserved in the spirit of the First Amendment." The telecommunications industry contributed over $33 million, including $11.5 million from TV and radio stations and $4.7 million from cable TV, in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans in the 2002 election cycle. "Viacom, Fox, and the other media giants are lobbying intensely in favor of deregulation," said Kirstin Marr, Public Relations Liaison for the Colorado Green Party. "Now is the time for all Americans who care about free and open access to information to speak up. That goes double for those of us who've taken positions against the war on Iraq or in favor of national health insurance, who've blown the whistle on toxic dumping or global warming, or espoused ideas contrary to what we're shown on the evening network news." LETTER TO THE FCC Green Party of the United Sates Media Committee Comment on Upcoming FCC Policy Review January 2, 2003 Members of the Media Committee of the Green Party of the United States are deeply concerned that the FCC's impending biennial review of rules designed to protect the public from concentrated ownership of media outlets may result in steps that will severely weaken existing rules designed to protect the public's first amendment rights to diverse media. Since the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, there has been a general trend toward greater concentration of ownership in private hands, justified by the notion that diversity may be defined simply in terms of numbers of outlets, and evaluated in increasingly narrow terms of commercial interests and private ownership. Far from increasing and expanding upon the marketplace of ideas and offering the public greater choice of outlets, the result has been to concentrate programming designed to support owners' financial interests, with fewer resources available for locally owned production and public access. Given that the public holds ownership of the airwaves, the FCC was created and given a mandate to promote competition, diversity of ownership and access for local broadcasters. We are concerned that in the upcoming review (Docket No. 02-277), current guidelines concerning diversity and concentration of ownership will be defined in such a way as to limit the consideration of diversity to the criteria defined in the interests of commercial competition, and that the definition of locally-owned media may be expanded to include network-owned chain properties. There currently exist more media outlets than ever before; however, studies demonstrate that media consolidation has had a negative effect on media diversity and local access to media outlets. True diversity of media is vital to the public interest in maintaining democracy and cannot rest solely on the whims of the marketplace. In the Supreme Court's opinion of 1945 (Associated Press vs. United States): "[The First Amendment rests on the assumption that the widest possible information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public, ... [and] a condition for a free society.... Freedom to publish is guaranteed by the Constitution, but freedom to combine to keep others from publishing is not. Freedom of the press from governmental interference under the First amendment does not sanction repression of that freedom by private interests." We urge the FCC to adhere to the guidelines expressed in the commission's original mandate, and to further strengthen such guidelines to effectively ensure public access to the media and true diversity of ownership. Sincerely, The Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org Grassroots media organizations opposing FCC
deregulation of media: "FCC Ready to Roll Back Limits on Media
Consolidation" "Time Warner Could Strangle the Internet: When competition is limited and free access isn't guaranteed, choices can easily dwindle" by Stacy Mitchell. Portland Press Herald (Maine), January 1, 2003. http://www.pressherald.com/viewpoints/mvoice/030101timewarner.shtml Telecommunications industry contributions to
political campaigns: search: rgt, regpol, cpr, cmty |
