The problem has more to do with the power of an individual network. At one point in the early 80's, there were maybe 50 important media companies in the US. Thanks to our continuous deregulation of media, there are maybe 6 media megacorporations. The FCC and FTC have done an abysmal job in controlling powerful anti-competitive businesses, but worse yet, our lawmakers sold us out by making monopolistic media perfectly legal.
Increased transparency in media consolidation would be a start. A bill in committee now, the Media Ownership Act of 2007 (S. 2332) is being considered. The fact that media providers no longer have to prove that they serve the public interest did not happen by itself, as though a force of nature. What can be done can be undone, and what was broken can be fixed.
Broadcasters tend to forget these days that they serve at the public interest, and that the airwaves DO NOT belong to them, and never did. The F.C.C. has always been lenient about renewing broadcast licenses, but it meant something that licensees had to go through a demanding renewal process. Now license renewal is so effortless it is known as “postcard renewal.” Even the pretense that there is a connection between the grant of a broadcast license and a promise to report on one’s community is all but gone. This kind of de-regulation has been changing the face of the media since the '80s.
The problem has more to do with the power of an individual network. At one point in the early 80's, there were maybe 50 important media companies in the US. Thanks to our continuous deregulation of media, there are maybe 6 media megacorporations. The FCC and FTC have done an abysmal job in controlling powerful anti-competitive businesses, but worse yet, our lawmakers sold us out by making monopolistic media perfectly legal.
Increased transparency in media consolidation would be a start. A bill in committee now, the Media Ownership Act of 2007 (S. 2332) is being considered. The fact that media providers no longer have to prove that they serve the public interest did not happen by itself, as though a force of nature. What can be done can be undone, and what was broken can be fixed.
I'm curious though, what's the alternative? Enforce more state regulation on the media?
Broadcasters tend to forget these days that they serve at the public interest, and that the airwaves DO NOT belong to them, and never did. The F.C.C. has always been lenient about renewing broadcast licenses, but it meant something that licensees had to go through a demanding renewal process. Now license renewal is so effortless it is known as “postcard renewal.” Even the pretense that there is a connection between the grant of a broadcast license and a promise to report on one’s community is all but gone. This kind of de-regulation has been changing the face of the media since the '80s.