Public still owns the airwaves, not TV and radio executives-FCC's Copps

[SUPERCASTER]

American citizens own the airwaves, not TV and radio executives

Here is the link to the full story written by FCC Commissioner, Copps.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16467944.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
http://www.temple.edu/media/media_tank/

 

[dbdigital]

American citizens own the airwaves, not TV and radio executives

Here is the link to the full story written by FCC Commissioner, Copps.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16467944.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
http://www.temple.edu/media/media_tank/

While I've always appreciated the blunt honesty and integrity of Commissioners Copps and Adlestein, the statement of Harold Feld, Senior V.P. of Media Access Project, says it all. "Remember: The FCC doesn't care about you."

Once that realization sinks in, then everything the FCC has done, from seeking to relax media ownership rules and suppressing its own media consolidation report to adopting HD Radio makes total sense.

db

 

[Bill-in-CT]

I sent an e-mail to my congresswoman last week asking her to support media ownership reform legislation. It is important for Members of Congress to speak out against broadcasters running all-day infomercials for the right wing agenda, in markets that don't allow opposing opinions. I would feel the same way if local talk radio consisted of only left leaning shows. Our democracy needs diverse voices on the public airwaves.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey of NY is preparing to reintroduce a media ownership reform bill:
http://www.house.gov/hinchey/issues/mora.shtml
and
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/31/13334/3833

Senator Bernie Sanders of VT is getting ready to introduce media ownership reform legislation:
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=269328

Congressman Dennis Kucinich says his committee will take up the Fairness Doctrine and other media issues this session.
http://www.freepress.net/news/20422

The Federal Communications Commission will complete its review of FCC media ownership policies this spring.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/01/media_myopia.html
and
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122990.html

 

[SirRoxalot]

Copp Out

So, I guess that the moral of the story is:

"If you can't compete, legislate."

The biggest problem with the Fairness Doctrine and other legislation that purports to assure "fairness" is WHO determines "what's fair". That's why the old Fairness Doctrine went away in the first place. Two different spokesmen from two different sides of an issue are not necessarily equally prepared to communicate their message. The reality was that the professional working for the radio station was usually vastly superior to the non-professional respondent from the other side of a particular issue. You old SNL fans remember the "Emily Litella" bit, right?

If you think that the FCC has problems determining whether content is obscene or not, imagine the job of trying to determine "fairness" of two political statements. The bottom line was that there were very few political statements because stations just didn't want to deal with the whole issue. Thus, very few opinions were stated.

The liberals seem to have "reinstating the Fairness Doctrine" as part of their agenda because they feel that their viewpoint is shortchanged in in radio as a media. As far as I can see, the problem isn't that the liberal viewpoint doesn't have an outlet as much as it is that there have been relatively few successful liberal shows. Too often, amateurs like Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo have been the liberal spokesmen, and their ability to entertain - and yes, we're talking entertainment here, folks - has been inferior to the entertainment capabilities of Loudmouth Limbaugh and others of his ilk.

If you want more liberal viewpoints on the radio, support the programs and hosts who present that viewpoint. Or, contribute money to buy time on the thousands of stations that accept brokered content and support those programs by listening. That hasn't happened in the marketplace.

As the most recent election pointed out, the bilious spoutings of conservative hosts hasn't exactly created a controlled, lockstep reaction in the general populace. Personally, I find both sides of the spectrum - from Limbaugh to Rhodes - to be more annoying than informative in that both sides twist facts to support their pre-determined agendas, and shed much more heat than light on any particular subject. I, for one, am sick of the constant criticism from both sides, and long for SOMEBODY to present some realistic, concrete proposals for moving forward from this point instead of looking backward and attempting to assign blame.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Re: Copp Out

The liberals seem to have "reinstating the Fairness Doctrine" as part of their agenda because they feel that their viewpoint is shortchanged in in radio as a media.

The liberals, and anyone else who thinks the Fairness Doctrine is a good idea, need to be careful what they wish for. Anytime the power of government is used to promote and/or stifle certain viewpoints, it's only a matter of time before the viewpoint YOU espouse is silenced. This is why we have freedom of speech in the US, and this is why we emphatically do NOT want government as an arbiter of fairness. (Besides, if government is deciding what's fair, where does that leave Faux News?)

 

[SaltyDog]

The Fairness Doctrine

The return of the Fairness Doctrine, if it happens, will be a huge shot in the arm for satellite radio. In fact, everything the government does that tightens regulations on terrestial radio puts us at further disadvantage.

What is commonly called "deregulation" would be more accurately described as regulation reform. You can argue that the reform was bad for the business, but we are obviously still heavily regulated.

 

[loumazz]

Has the FCC put broadcasting in the US on a slippery slope?
Some thoughts in "Tomorrowland" at http://lmradiorefugee.blogspot.com