:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::
"Everything is being compressed into tiny tablets. You take a little pill of news every day - 23 minutes - and that's supposed to be enough." -Walter Cronkite, RE TV news. The Web has changed that for many, however, and here is an extra dose for your daily news cocktail. This prescription tends to include surveillance and now war-related links, along with the occasional pop culture junk and whatever else seizes my attention as I scan online news sites.:: 5.22.2003 ::
:: The FCC & monopoly? ::
From remhq.com:
R.E.M. & PEARL JAM JOIN CAMPAIGN TO DELAY FCC VOTE
Washington, DC--Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam and Mike Mills of R.E.M. allied with Common Cause, MoveOn.Org, and the Future of Music Coalition in an effort to stop the Federal Communications Commission from increasing monopoly control over the nation’s airwaves. They called for a nation-wide campaign to postpone the FCC’s June 2nd decision on an unprecedented relaxation of its long-time ownership restriction rules until the American public is awarded an acceptable comment period.
The coalition’s message echoes recommendations of Democratic FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Kenneth Adelstein, two of the FCC’s five commissioners. The delayed process would allow for future public education and debate over the ruling—a ruling that would drastically change the face of radio, print, and broadcast communication, across the board.
Chellie Pingrie, President of Common Cause, expressed deep concern about the implications of the FCC vote on the future of freedom of speech and its impact on American democracy.
“Relaxing or eliminating the ownership rules will damage our democracy,” said Ms. Pingree, President of Common Cause. “Access to independent information will dwindle. And a few huge media companies are likely to ignore local news and their public responsibility.”
Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam shared his concerns from an artist’s perspective: “The more I learn about the potential changes in the business landscape brought on by further deregulation, the more feel I need to know. With one of the fundamental elements of democracy at risk, it is immensly important that more time and more information is provided to the public so they are able to fully understand and scrutinize the potential ramifications of this vote."
Mike Mills of R.E.M. expressed the implications of multinational conglomerate-controlled radio stations.
"Democracy is built on healthy competition in the marketplace of ideas. Without it, we diminish our freedom of expression," said Mills. "If the FCC gives a monopoly on all news and entertainment programming to a handful of big corporations, then we also lose the diversity of ideas that makes democracy work."
Jenny Toomey, Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition, said that radio consolidation has historically been a failure for the American public.
“Media consolidation has reduced marketplace competition, programming diversity, public access to the airwaves, and public satisfaction,” said To o mey. “It is amazing to me that we can even consider going down the same path of ownership deregulation for TV, cable and newspapers without addressing the very basic issues that radio consolidation has raised.”
Eli Pariser, Campaign Director of MoveOn.org, outlined the massive grassroots organizing effort that has already begun, around the June 2nd decision.
“Our membership came to us because they were so worried about the implications of this decision. We launched a petition to postpone the vote, and we received 150,000 signatures in five days. We’ve never seen this kind of energy on this issue before. We’re now taking our message to Congress and to the FCC,” said Pariser. "Americans don't want a few big corporations controlling their media choices. Our voices will be heard."
Paul W. Duke, former Senior Commentator for Public Broadcasting in Washington Week in Review for 20 years, moderated the call.
Common Cause is a 200,000-member organization that works for open, accountable government and the right of all citizens to be involved in shaping the nation’s public policies. Moveon.org is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation with a network of more than 2,000,000 online activists.
To read the petition and review background information on the FCC’s proposed rules and Common Cause’s campaign against consolidation, please visit www.commoncause.org.
For additional news coverage, please click below:
Athens Banner Herald
Denver Post
posted by me
:: 10:41:00 PM [+] ::
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