The FCC and Media Conglomeration

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/03/media_consolidation/index_np.html?source=newsletter

Corporate conglomeration of the media was one of the main issues that drove me to get more politically involved. It is, of course, also an issue that is closely linked to money in politics, in that large media corporations (Fox News Corps, Viacom, Clear Channel, Time/Warner, etc.) pay a large amount of money to get friendly politicians in office and sitting on the FCC so that rules and laws can be passed that allow them to swallow up local media. Michael Copps, one of my heroes when it comes to this issue, has spoken out vehemently against media conglomeration. Below is the main quote from this article, representing the civil rights and diversity issues embedded in this money in politics/media issue.

"We live in a country that is one-third minority right now in the United States of America. People of color own 3.26 percent of all full-power commercial television stations, so is it any wonder then that their issues are not given the kind of coverage that they may like to have? Is it any wonder that they're so characterized that when you see a news story about an African-American it's often about crime? Or when you see a news story about a Latino, it's about jumping over a fence to get into the United States? What about the many million more stories that have to do with the contributions that these groups make to the country and what's going on in their communities? And what are their issues? And this applies to women when it comes to ownership too. Diversity of voices depends on ownership. If you don't have diversity of ownership, you're not going to have diversity of voices. So it's important to the future of our country. Our future is our diversity. That's our strength. That's our opportunity going forward. Why should we have a media that doesn't reflect that?"

-peace-