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Greens Urge FCC and Congress to Oppose Media Consolidation. |
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For immediate release: Friday, May 30, 2003 Contacts: GREENS URGE FCC AND CONGRESS TO OPPOSE MEDIA CONSOLIDATION As the June 2nd date approaches for the Federal Communication Committee's decision on 'relaxing' media consolidation rules, the Green Party joins more than 18,000 individuals and organizations who've submitted public comments overwhelmingly in opposition to media ownership in fewer and fewer hands. The Green Party reiterates its serious concerns that the FCC drive to eliminate media ownership rules will undermine the constitutional guarantee of freedom of press and our commitment to democracy. The new rules will accelerate an increasing consolidation of media ownership, further reducing diversity of views and news presented to the American public. Despite the profound impact of the proposed rules, the Commission, led by Michael Powell (son of Secretary of State Colin Powell), has refused to extend the decision deadline or allow more than one public hearing. While media lobbyists have sponsored hundreds of all-expense-paid junkets for FCC Commissioners, holding a series of behind-closed-door meetings with the FCC on the new rules, Michael Powell has announced in response to public criticism, "the market is my religion". "Envision Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (Fox TV) controlling over-the-air access to 90% of the US television audience and owning the largest US satellite broadcast system," explains attorney and New York Green Party spokesperson, Mark Dunlea, "and you'll get a picture of a new media landscape about to be delivered courtesy of three Republican votes and Powell-controlled FCC." The respected, retired newsman/editor, Arthur Rowse of the Washington Post, Boston Globe and U.S. News and World Report, warns in his book Drive-By Journalism, "the writers of the First Amendment didn't foresee how a privately owned press could turn into a mammoth oligopoly more intent on enhancing its power and profits than protecting freedom and democracy." Frank Blethen, Publisher of the Seattle Times, with over three decades newspaper experience, has testified to Congress that the Powell proposal would "not only be a serious blow to America's independent free press, it may be a fatal blow to our democracy." The 'chilling effect' of the proposed rules on editors and writers goes far beyond the newsrooms, broadcast suites and publishing houses. If Powell has his way, the situation will get worse; there will be little public oversight remaining as megamedia companies rush for profits at the expense of diverse views and democratic debate. Robert McChesney, Professor at the University of Illinois and co-founder of the media reform group Free Press, www.mediareform.net , and supporter of the Green Party's reform agenda, says, "This is the classic case of organized money versus the people. Ninety-eight percent of Americans oppose letting fewer and fewer companies own more and more media, yet the Republican majority on the FCC is bound and determined to ignore the public and deliver this windfall to a handful of super-powerful corporate behemoths. The stench of corruption harkens back to the Gilded Age, and the implications for our democracy could not be more stark." "Congress has been dozing while Michael Powell drives the agenda", says Steve Schmidt from the Green Party's Platform Committee. "If the FCC rules on June 2nd against the public interest and for media consolidation with resulting loss of diversity, localism and competition, it will be the responsibility of Congress to step up and overrule the FCC." MORE INFORMATION |