December 2, 2011
What is it going to take to make the federal agency tasked
with protecting the public interest in broadcasting actually listen to the
public? An uprising of three million
people? A directive from President Obama?
An order from the second highest court in
the land? We've seen all of that, and
still nothing has worked. It may be time
to Occupy the FCC. But I digress.
Just before the big Thanksgiving holiday, the Federal
Communications Commission leaked information that they are once again reviewing
the broadcast media ownership rules, and that -- get this -- they intend to leave
local TV and Radio ownership rules in place, and plan to move ahead with the same
newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules that Republican chair Kevin Martin
put into place.
But wait, don't they remember the 3 million people who wrote
them in 2005, saying they want more owners of fewer radio and TV stations, not
the other way around? Or
what about President Obama's January 2009 directive, originally reported in
BradBlog, that we need to diversify media ownership? Or the recent
Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling specifically surrounding the newspaper
cross ownership issue, which said the FCC had not properly listened to the
public, and that they must do so before making such a rule?
What is it Charlie Brown says every time Lucy pulls the
football out from underneath him?
AAAAAUUUUUUGH!!!!!
It gets worse. True to form, the FCC quietly
announced that there would be an FCC hearing about media ownership rules held in
Atlanta, Georgia December 1. They announced the forum in their Daily
Digest the day after Thanksgiving, just 6 days before the public event. The hearing would be the last public event held before the final notice
of proposed rulemaking for 2010 Quadrennial Ownership Review is released, the
last opportunity for the public to make comments about OUR public airwaves for
the next four years!
It is clear the FCC does not want to hear from the very
public it serves.
So I am not kidding about Occupying the FCC.
More. Soon.
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Occupy Sacramento screened "Broadcast Blues" Thursday evening, and the Occupy protesters are now looking closely at corporate misinformation and fear created by media, especially radio. What will come of it? Stay tuned.
