Dan Rather to Testify at Hill Hearing on Minority Ownership
House Judiciary Committee Hearing to Focus on Impact of Media Consolidation on Localism and Diversity
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/10/2007 1:33:00 PM
The House Judiciary Committee scheduled a hearing Wednesday (Dec. 12) at 2 p.m. on media consolidation and former CBS anchor Dan Rather is leading the witness list.
The hearing will focus on the impact of media consolidation on localism and diversity. The list includes Rather, now anchor and managing editor of Dan Rather Reports on HDNet; Adam Thierer from the Center for Digital Media Freedom, Progress and Freedom Foundation; radio talk-how host Joe Madison; Carol Jenkins of the Women's Media Center; David Honig, executive director of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council; and S. Derek Turner, head of research for Free Press.
That hearing comes one day before the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to hear from Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners about media-ownership issues at an FCC oversight hearing.
The hearings were called after Martin made it clear that he wanted to vote on loosening the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership at a Dec. 18 public FCC meeting, and that along with proposals to address diversity and a report on localism that would also be voted, that would essentially close the 18-month review of media-ownership rules.
Hill Democrats have asked him to slow down, as well as to conclude separate inquiries into localism and diversity before taking any action on revising the rules -- even a revision Martin argued is limited and conservative. For instance, it does not allow for more multiple radio or station ownership in smaller markets.
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Dan Rather reminds me of Bill Moyers. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm just saying that both of them seem to have taken up the banner of the media reform crowd. I've done some work with NAB, so I'm always a little wary of this crowd. I understand that they want more diversity in media, and I agree with them. But I just wish they'd recognize that local TV and radio stations face tremendous pressure from the Internet and New Media. Many local stations would not be afloat without corporate resources.
Chinook - 12/12/2007 9:16:00 AM EST -
The FCC is essential but calling Dan Rather as a witness for minority ownership is another example of their complete inability to stay on mission and actually get relevant issues resolved. His experience as a highly paid network anchor has no application in this discussion unless his limo got stuck once at a local affiliate.
Greg Armstrong - 12/11/2007 11:13:00 AM EST -
Lance,
Whenever I see a gross error in spelling or grammar, it makes me look at the message with a lot more scepticism. So, in the future, remember that when your noun starts with a vowel, your preposition of "a" becomes "an". Good rhetoric requires good grammar.
Emily Post - 12/11/2007 11:05:00 AM EST -
Lance,
Whenever I see a gross error in spelling or grammar, it makes me look at the message with a lot more scepticism. So, in the future, remember that when your noun starts with a vowel, your preposition of "a" becomes "an". Good rhetoric requires good grammar.
Emily Post - 12/11/2007 11:04:00 AM EST -
Nice sarcasm, wingnut.
Perhaps you haven''t heard of the many conservative and Christian organizations that are also against media consolidation.
But I guess the words "Dan Rather" have you flaring your nostrils, just as Rush Vicodin and Loofah Felafel and their corporate stooges at Clear Channel and Fox have drilled into you.
Activist - 12/11/2007 10:38:00 AM EST
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