Obama, Bush at Odds Over Media-Ownership Vote
Democratic Presidential Candidate Urges House of Representatives to Follow Senate's Lead, Scrap FCC's Media-Ownership-Rule Change
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/16/2008 11:50:00 AM
The fight over the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 18 media-ownership vote set up a potential battle between the current president and a senator who wants to be the next one.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) Thursday urged the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass a resolution of disapproval, an unusual legislative maneuver that would invalidate the FCC's decision to allow TV and radio stations and newspapers to be co-owned in the top 20 markets, subject to some conditions.
After the Senate approved the measure, Obama, a co-sponsor of the bill, released a statement saying, "I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to expeditiously pass the legislation."
He framed the vote, as he has before, as standing up to "Washington special interests," a campaign theme. "Our nation’s media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership," he said.
At almost the same time, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez was releasing his own statement decrying the vote. “Overturning the FCC’s approach will actually discourage a diversity of media voices and will hinder efforts to enhance local content by preventing some ownership arrangements that could provide additional financing to sustain local newspapers," he said.
Gutierrez also reiterated his plan to advise the president to veto the bill if it passes in the House. The administration Thursday also weighed in against the resolution and told the Senate that other top advisers were counseling the president to veto it.
-
The House of Represenatives should follow the Senate on the ownership issue, but that doesn''t go far enough. What should be considered is returning to antitrust laws that were tough on monopolies. The monopoly created by a company owning a network and an unlimited number of stations plus ownership control of all programs is unfair to the independent producer and has caused the entreprenurial distributor to become extinct. The viewers are deprived of creative programs and subjected to the lowest budget programs they can get away with airing. Television should be more than it is. In the famous words of Newton Minnow, former FCC Chairman, television is "a vast wasteland" and the road that led us there began when ownership rules were loosened to allow the rich to get richer and let quality and creativity be damned.
Jerry D. Weaver - 5/17/2008 2:40:00 AM EDT -
Competition benefits the media industry and the public -- more players, more choices. Oligopoly's a quicker way to riches... but at one time in this country, it was considered a violation of antitrust policy. Newspapers simply have to adapt to new technnologies; traditional print media shouldn't have to rely on regulatory largesse to ensure their survival. It may be easier to simply buy an existing broadcast property; but nothing's stopping print properties from using the 'net to create their own multimedia channels, and that's just what innovative publishers are doing.
Victor Livingston - 5/16/2008 2:55:00 PM EDT -
In this case I believe Sen Obama is correct. As a producer I have over the years encountered the road blocks and impediments to the development financing and implementation of new product that the lack of diversity created by one place localized and often myopic thinking creates. The television medium is at it's best when it creates and presents a wide spectrum of views and opinions. The prospect of localized self interst impeding this by promoting only the views and opinions relative to their particular interest should be scary to mre than just me.
Donn Kizzee - 5/16/2008 11:38:00 AM EDT
No related content found.
-
No Top Articles
Featured Company
-
Grab Networks
Created from the merger between Anystream and Voxant Media, Grab Networks offers a comprehensive video operating system and syndication network for profitably publishing video anywhere on the Internet. The system automatically manages, transcodes and tags video assets- turning cl..more



















