In a move thought controversial worldwide, the Senate last week approved a congressional veto that would seek to undo the FCC’s newly instated, relaxed media regulations. These new regulations increased allowed ownership of every media outlet and utility—including newspapers, publishers, radio and television stations, and cable operation—in all markets, and allowed companies to reach up to 45 percent of all television-viewing households nationwide. The current ownership of our TV screens allowed by the FCC is 35 percent.
Though it is likely this will be shot down in the House or by the President, this bill brings up again the issue of media deregulation. To me, this is an idea thought up by and bought into by the interested parties, be they CBS, NBC, Disney, Clear Channel, Time Warner, or whichever enormous media conglomerate happens to come to mind. Though the increase in viewing numbers would only grow by 10 percent, consider 10 percent of the population of New York City, and you can see that such an increase would certainly have a significant impact.
It may seem that in order for such deregulation to really have a negative impact, these companies would truly need a negative, detrimental outlook towards the consumer. Consider for a minute the fact that Clear Channel, which owned 1,225 channels by November 14 last year, has circulated a list of songs with “questionable content”, started after 9/11, which created the supposed effect of reducing airtime for these songs. Though I choose not to listen to stations owned by Clear Channel, and can therefore not attest to this decrease, just the notion of such a list makes my skin crawl. Thinking that a company who has majority exposure that100 of 112 major media markets could, at any time, ban a song or band on a whim, is scary.
This move by the Senate has reassured me that at least part of the government really considers the American people at some point during the day, however, it is a minute step towards blocking further media deregulation. If you have an opinion on this issue, write your House Representatives and let them know how you think they should vote when the bill gets to the House. It will be up to the public to influence the rest of Congress, and keep the media free from greater corporate control.
