Oakland Opposes Media Consolidation
Posted October 30th, 2006 by Jen Howard
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A crowd of 350 packed into the Public Hearing on the Future of Media last Friday, voicing concerns about greater media consolidation to FCC Commissioners Michael J. Copps and Jonathan Adelstein.
“This is the most important meeting taking place here or anywhere else in the great State of California today,” Commissioner Copps told the audience at the first public hearing on media ownership in the Bay Area. “That’s because the FCC is in the midst of a hugely significant proceeding that will decide what the future of our media—our TV, radio, newspapers, cable and even the Internet—is going to look like for many, many years to come.”
The community-organized hearing was sponsored by the NAACP, Media Alliance, Youth Media Council and Free Press.
“California in particular is and will be adversely affected by the gobbling up of smaller media outlets by larger conglomerates,” Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP California State Conference said in opening the hearing. “And who is affected: small communities, rural communities, and minority populations. As broadcasters become fewer in number, the arena for debate and discussion becomes smaller and smaller.”
Director of the Youth Media Council, Malkia Cyril, spoke about the impact of media consolidation on communities of color, “Sure, people of color are in the news, but as crime suspects. This is about being able to have more local control over the media outlets.”
Sydney Levy, program director of Media Alliance spoke about recent newsroom cutbacks in California. “NBC’s Telemundo is closing its doors in the Bay Area. Dean Singleton is reducing the staff at the San Jose Mercury News. Clear Channel spews hate into our communities. The question is: are we going to reward these companies by allowing them to own more media outlets and increase their monopolies?”
Click here for more information on the Oakland hearing.
