Democrats Move to Re-Regulate Media
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Two liberal House members who recently have been critical of what they view as attempts by conservative Republicans to take over America’s mass media and public broadcasting have now introduced a sweeping bill that would re-regulate radio and TV back to the days before the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
The Media Ownership Reform Act of 2005 (MORA) is co-sponsored by Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. and Diane Watson, D-Calif. In a written announcement, MORA is described as legislation “that seeks to undo the massive consolidation of the media that has been ongoing for nearly 20 years.”
The measure would restore the Fairness doctrine, reinstate a national cap on radio ownership and lower the number of radio stations a company can own in a local market. It also reinstates a 25% national television ownership cap and requires stations to submit regular public interest reports to the Federal Communications Commission.
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http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/189 http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/102005/sshinchey.htmlAddressing the need for media ownership reform
By Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
While much of our nation’s attention has understandably turned to recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast, the war in Iraq, homeland security and other timely issues, a topic at the heart of these matters, media ownership, has largely gone ignored.
How and from where Americans receive their news on these and other issues are of critical importance. Yet this country’s media ownership rules have limited our sources of information, resulting in inadequate and biased news reporting — the opposite of what our public needs. It is essential that Congress act to reassess our telecommunications policies and regulations to uphold fairness and democracy in our society.
The number of media companies in the United States is rapidly diminishing. As telecommunications mergers continue to take place, fierce competition is forcing more and more businesses to be gobbled up by media giants or driven out of the market. As a result, fewer than two dozen media giants control the American media today.
For instance, America Online, CNN, Warner Bros. and Time magazine are just a few of the news outlets that Time Warner owns. Another media conglomerate, Viacom, owns Infinity Radio, with 106 radio stations, CBS, UPN and Paramount Pictures, among other assets. Clear Channel Communications’ massive portfolio of 1,200 radio stations is yet another egregious example of the growing consolidation of American media.
Beginning in the 1940s, several laws were enacted to broaden television- and radio-station ownership. During the Reagan administration, however, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made abrupt and rapid changes to embark on a fierce deregulatory agenda. Since that time, our government has continually favored business-friendly media-policy decisions, enabling passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which lifted the previous station ownership cap and allowed for unprecedented business consolidation in all areas of telecommunications.
The number of television and radio stations dramatically increased in the 1970s and 1980s. However, after the FCC decided in 1987 to eliminate the Fairness Doctrine and promote media consolidation, the diversity of ownership and the wide array of perspectives that came with it dramatically declined.
The American public is largely unaware that the information it receives from the media almost always originates from the same few sources. This phenomenon shrinks the marketplace of ideas and prevents new and independent voices from entering the mainstream. A handful of companies are permitted to decide what the American public can or cannot see and hear in media and are under little obligation to meet demands for informative, quality programming.
To address Congress’s sluggish and inadequate response to America’s telecommunications crisis, I have founded the nonpartisan Future of American Media Caucus, with the goal of educating members of Congress on the pressing media issues of the day. We’ve made a concerted effort to offer different points of view on media topics, and I encourage my colleagues to join the caucus or at least attend a briefing.
To further those efforts, in July I introduced the Media Ownership Reform Act of 2005 (MORA), a bill that seeks to repair the damage that has been done by media consolidation. The bill reduces the number of radio stations one company can own in a given market and caps national ownership at 5 percent of stations.
It also reinstates national television-station ownership limits, preventing one company from owning broadcast stations that reach more than 25 percent of American households. Current law allows for 39 percent national audience reach.
MORA also reestablishes the Fairness Doctrine, a provision requiring media coverage of controversial issues on broadcast stations to be open to alternative points of view, and establishes public-interest obligations compelling broadcast programs to meet the needs of communities around the nation.
Our government must dedicate great attention and consideration to the improvement of America’s malfunctioning news-distribution system. In an age when possibilities for national and global communication are virtually endless, we must not allow a small number of corporations to control the flow of information. Rather, Congress must ensure that our citizens are provided access to diverse and educational programming from a variety of sources and presented with ways to express their opinions regarding media policy decisions.
My legislation would bring our public policy one step closer to this goal. The survival of our democratic republic depends on it.
Hinchey is founder of the Future of American Media Caucus and sponsor of the Media Ownership Reform Act of 2005.
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