Archive for December, 2006
Friday, December 29th, 2006 by Jen Howard
Yet another study claiming to uncover the “liberal media bias”‘ has been making the rounds in recent weeks — popping up in a New York Times column, cited on NPR and gaining traction in the blogosphere.
Authored by two University of Chicago economists, the yet-unpublished study tracks 1,000 “politically loaded” phrases in over 400 newspapers and concludes that newspapers mirror the ideology of their market. More controversially, the study also suggests that the average paper’s language is “similar to that of a left-of-center member of Congress” — a finding supposedly “consistent” with other studies showing “strong liberal bias.”
But a recent article in the American Journalism Review blasts holes through the study, questioning both the quality of the data and the basic structure of the research.
Much of the study’s analysis rests on a newspaper’s use of “politically loaded” terms — so defined by the authors. On closer review, the AJR discovered that many of the phrases included in the research had nothing to do with ideology — with terms like “credit card” and “Justice Department” as the “partisan phrases” used most. Some other notable examples of partisan language include: “Hurricane Katrina,” “assistant secretary,” “nursing home,” and “natural gas.”
On top of questionable term choices, the research had strange gaps — like finding that the Washington Post did not use the terms “political party” or “National Security Advisory” in an entire year.
The AJR article also pointed out that the newspapers used in the study include almost all the larger papers in the country — which fall on the “liberal side” of the researcher’s rankings — but a much smaller share of smaller papers.
And while the study claimed to have excluded opinion pieces “whenever possible,” the AJR writer’s informal review found that many uses of the “politically loaded” terms had to come from editorial content — a result that would certainly skew a paper’s ideological slant.
It only took some quick investigation from a noted journal to cast serious doubts on the latest “liberal bias” study. But some people are already unquestioningly taking the study at face value.
Among the most troubling is Austan Goolsbee — a University of Chicago colleague to the two authors, and the man selected by the FCC to conduct its studies on vertical integration in the media.
Saying that the “ultimate ownership of the news media” does not matter as much as what the readers want to hear, Goolsbee finds “good news” in the study’s findings:
“If slant comes from customers, then the views of the owners and the reporters do not matter. We do not need to fear that some partisan billionaire will buy up newspapers and use them for propaganda.”
That the person selected by the FCC to study media economics finds media ownership irrelevant — based on a questionable study — is bad news for the millions of Americans relying on the FCC to make our media more fair, diverse and local.
Click here to read the American Journalism Review’s article
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Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 by Jen Howard
Excerpted from Nashville Testimony of Akilah N. Folami
For the Hip Hop community, radio consolidation has had a deadening effect on the much needed discourse that was occurring among America’s younger generation prior to the corporate takeover, particularly among its young, urban, Black men, through Rap.
Before the rampant radio consolidation, local radio stations played more of a diverse sound in Rap — along with more community programming, local political news and activism, and advertisements of businesses and events in the area. Local DJs, who were deemed to be the pulse of the Hip Hop community, were regularly featured, as was new talent that was often discovered by such DJs as they mingled in the community.
After the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and the resulting rapid buy-out of local radio stations by larger media conglomerates, community programming disappeared on such stations, as did the local radio station managers. They were replaced by national managers who were removed from the community and sat in distant regional offices of the station owner.
Local DJs were fired and replaced by advanced technology that allowed shows to be pre-recorded at one of the owner’s radio stations and distributed to its other sister stations for radio airplay. New Rap talent — catering more to the tastes of the local community than that approved for play by national managers — was rarely exposed on the radio. National executives were not interested in playing a new undiscovered sound that had not already been heavily marketed and approved by record companies.
Today, Gangsta Rap dominates the nation’s radio airwaves with messages of misogyny, violence, and excessive consumer consumption. It is largely corporate driven, heavily marketed, and commercialized by corporate media in a way that more socially conscious Rap cannot be. Overlooked for radio air play are female rappers, and non-Gangsta Rap songs that might appeal to niche audiences or to audiences with smaller buying power.
The current radio ownership rules do not promote competition or a diversity of viewpoints. Instead, they have fostered a discussion that seems to circulate around the interests of a handful of media conglomerates who own a majority of the radio airwaves, and for all intent and purposes, control access to them.
More space needs to be made for a diversity of viewpoints and cannot turn — as it has for Hip Hop — on corporate-backed marketing and visibility, or the consumption habits of a particular buying demographic.
Click here to read the complete testimony
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Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 by Jen Howard
Today, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and Free Press will release The Case Against Media Consolidation — a biting critique of media concentration. Edited by Mark Cooper, the book is a collection of research papers on media ownership, ranging from broad examinations of the First Amendment to specific analysis of media markets.
Editor Mark Cooper, director of research at Consumer Federation of America:
“This book challenges the FCC’s narrow view of the First Amendment, which has protected the interests of broadcasters at the expense of the public interest, and rebuts Big Media’s claim that their role as the primary source of news and information has been undermined by the growth of alternatives sources.”
Bob McChesney, president and co-founder of Free Press:
“The quality or importance of this research cannot be exaggerated. It goes directly to one of the central media policy issues of our times, with powerful implications for the future of self-governance in the United States. It should be mandatory reading by every communication scholar and student — as well as every member of Congress and the FCC.”
Citing solid evidence that concentration of commercial television and newspaper ownership has undermined localism, competition and diversity in the media, The Case Against Media Consolidation dismantles Big Media’s arguments for further consolidation and features groundbreaking research on the true state of local news and information.
The Case Against Media Consolidation is also available for download at no charge under a creative commons license.
Click here to download The Case Against Media Consolidation
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Monday, December 18th, 2006 by Jen Howard
The FCC has extended the public comment deadline for the media ownership rules from Dec. 21 to Jan. 16. The FCC agreed that it was in the public interest to push the deadline past the holidays given “the significant complexity and importance of the issues in this proceeding and the volume of comments already filed.”
The deadline falls just days after thousands will gather in Memphis for the National Conference for Media Reform (Jan. 12-14). There is still space for you to join legendary journalists, new media visionaries, grassroots organizers, Washington policymakers and civil rights trailblazers in making media a viable political issue in America — and sending a message to Kevin Martin that Big Media is big enough.
The extension means that there is more time to make your voice heard. Tell the FCC to protect localism, promote diverse voices, and stop burying evidence by filing comments directly from the StopBigMedia.com site. The FCC needs to hear how well Big Media firms are serving — or failing to serve — your local community.
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Friday, December 15th, 2006 by Jen Howard
This week, the Future of Music Coalition released False Premises, False Promises: A Quantitative History of Ownership Consolidation in the Radio Industry, a solid smackdown of Big Radio’s case for concentration.
On both national and local levels, the report found that rapid consolidation by radio giants like Clear Channel has meant fewer radio programming choices — harming the listening public and those working in the music and media industries, including DJs, programmers and musicians.
Peter DiCola, FMC Research Director and the report’s author:
“When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the radio industry changed drastically. Historical data from the industry reveal unprecedented consolidation and show that the Telecom Act has backfired in terms of the FCC’s goals of competition, localism, and diversity in radio. Commercial radio now offers musicians fewer opportunities to get airtime and offers the public a narrow set of overlapping and homogenized programming formats.”
Key findings of the report include:
- The top four radio station owners have almost half of the listeners and the top 10 owners have almost two-thirds of listeners.
- The “localness” of radio ownership — ownership by individuals living in the community — has declined between 1975 and 2005 by almost one-third.
- Just 15 formats make up three-quarters of all commercial programming. Moreover, radio formats with different names can overlap up to 80 percent in terms of the songs played on them.
- Niche musical formats like Classical, Jazz, Americana, Bluegrass, New Rock, and Folk, where they exist, are provided almost exclusively by smaller station groups.
- Across 155 markets, radio listenership has declined over the past 14 years, a 22 percent drop since its peak in 1989. The consolidation allowed by the Telecom Act has failed to reverse this trend.
As John Nichols wrote in The Nation:
“The report confirms what is already known, at least anecdotally, by anyone who has tried to listen to radio since the Congress, with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, essentially eliminated controls on the number of stations that can be owned by a single company.
For more information about the report, visit FutureofMusic.org
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Thursday, December 14th, 2006 by Jen Howard
By The Newspaper Guild-CWA, SaveJournalism.org
The Newspaper Guild-CWA members across the country joined together for a day of action to Save Journalism on Dec. 11. They rallied, testified and focused public attention on the harm that job cuts in the news industry cause to workers, communities, quality journalism and democracy itself.
In Nashville, TNG-CWA members organized with a broad coalition to speak out against further rollbacks in media ownership rules, the subject of the FCC hearing that followed.
>>> Click here to watch the Nashville press conference
“We gather in Nashville with a goal – to protect this country’s democracy by ensuring that many independent, credible voices are heard on our nation’s airwaves and in the press,” said Carolyn Tuft, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter and member of TNG-CWA Local 36047. “We must stop the media conglomerates from stripping the country of more media outlets, further eroding the check and balance that a strong free press provides the public and our democracy.”
Tuft was joined by Jim Buckley of the Steelworkers, Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union, Harold Bradley from the American Federation of Musicians, and Jerry Lee, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO. It was a nice kick-off to what turned out to be an incredible public hearing.
At the San Francisco Chronicle, TNG-CWA officers and stewards distributed materials and had lots of one-on-one conversations with members. Among the responses: “It’s great that the Guild is doing this. I’ve always thought the industry needed to market itself this way” and “we need to get this message out to the public.” A local high school journalism teacher passed out wristbands to his class and bumper stickers were everywhere in the newsroom.
In Dayton, Ohio, about 25 TNG-CWA members rallied outside the Dayton Daily News, cheering and carrying signs and getting support from the public in the campaign for quality journalism.
In Canton, Ohio, TNG-CWA members wore wristbands and stickers, mobilizing around the pending sale of the Canton Repository. Several members spent time during the day talking with community leaders and the impact it could have on the newspaper and reporting of local news.
In Minnesota, about 150 members from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press and supporters rallied together, releasing 100 black balloons into the air to spotlight the loss of quality journalism jobs at the newspapers since 2005.
“We’re standing outside a building that six years ago had 240 people to put out the news – writers, editors, photographers and artists,” said Brian Bonner, a reporter at Minnesota’s St. Paul Pioneer Press and member of TNG-CWA Local 37002. “Today we have 175 people doing the same jobs that 240 people used to do.”
In Pittsburgh, in the midst of difficult contract talks, TNG-CWA members and workers represented by 13 other unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lined the boulevard outside the newspaper to demonstrate their solidarity.
“In the past five years, more than 40 jobs have disappeared from our newsroom, more than 15 this year alone. We closed our Washington, D.C., bureau, leaving only one reporter (the lone union member in that office) to cover the nation’s capital with a Pittsburgh perspective. We lost one of our political cartoonists, too. The end result is the people of Pittsburgh have fewer watchdogs looking out for them. Fewer people are covering your community, your school board, your local hospital, your government and your favorite teams,” said columnist Brian O’Neill.
In San Jose, TNG-CWA members distributed materials around the Mercury News and held a teach-in with educators and journalism students at DeAnza College.
The Milwaukee TNG-CWA distributed materials and information around the Journal Sentinel and workers at the Catholic News Service in Washington, D.C., stood for a minute of silence.
For more information on the Save Journalism Day of Action, visit www.SaveJournalism.org.
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Monday, December 11th, 2006 by Tim Karr
More than 500 Nashville residents joined country music legends at Belmont University’s Massey Performing Arts Center on Monday to speak out against media consolidation.
The event, the second official Federal Communications Commission hearing, stretched to over eight hours.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said, “I can’t think of a better place to go than Music City to hear various views on media ownership and its impact on the music industry.’
Nashville didn’t disappoint. People came from at least six states to share their views with the FCC. The vast majority of the 170 who stood up to testify opposed any FCC effort to remove the last remaining curbs to media consolidation.
Listening Beyond the Beltway
“If anyone tries to tell you that Big Media’s push for more consolidation has gone away, don’t believe it,” said Commissioner Michael Copps. “They haven’t gone away, and their lawyers and lobbyists haven’t gone away either. So if we are going to go on to a broader national dialogue on the future of the media in our democracy, it will be because of citizen action from millions of Americans and testimony at hearings like this one.”
The event featured panel discussions with labor leaders, broadcasters, and some of country music’s biggest names — George Jones, Porter Wagoner, Naomi Judd, Big and Rich, Cowboy Troy, Dobie Gray — who complained that radio consolidation was stifling creativity and sidelining real talent.
Big Radio is Bad Radio
“The consolidation of the radio industry has kept me from playing on the radio,” said country legend Jones. “You know sugar is sweet. But too much can kill you. I ask the FCC Commissioners not to let the radio industry consolidate any further so that my fans and my public can continue to hear my music. Please don’t make it any rougher for recording artists like me or for tomorrow’s rising stars.”
“Big radio is bad radio,” said Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America. “If left to their own devices, Big Radio is just going to get bigger and the music is just going to get worse. Somebody must save these people from themselves. It’s time to let local radio be local again.”
Before inviting Commissioner Copps to try her chicken and dumplings, Grammy-award-winner Judd said, “You have five people on your commission who are going to be in charge of the future of media. I urge these five chosen commissioners to hear the voice of public interest before the voice of special interests.”
“The days of an artist receiving regional airplay or breaking as a new act on radio are gone, and you are now considering making the situation even worse by letting some broadcast dynasties become even bigger broadcasting dynasties,” Wagoner told the audience.
Fix the System
Following the first panel, the four commissioners (Commissioner Robert McDowell cancelled his trip at the last minute) listened to concerns about the quality of local news and programming, lack of diversity on the airwaves, and the barriers placed on independent content and local control by Big Media corporations.
“These days, finding a local DJ is harder than finding a two dollar gallon of gasoline,” said Bruce Bouton of the Recording Musicians Association (RMA) International. “And local musicians getting on the radio — forget about it. Deregulation is slowly strangling the music business.”
“Are we here because people have been beating down your door with a burning desire for our media to go into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations? Of course not,” said Lonnie Atkinson, a local Nashville DJ. “We are concerned citizens that are trying to believe that there are some parts of our system that are not broken. Please do not let us down.”
A broad-based coalition of local and national groups worked to turnout the public to the Nashville event. They included the American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), The Belcourt Theater, Center for Rural Strategies, Christian Community Broadcasters, Communications Workers of America, Consumers Union, EarthMatters Tennessee, Free Press, Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, Nashville Peace and Justice Center, Newspaper Guild-CWA, Prometheus Radio Project, Rainbow/PUSH, Tennessee Alliance for Progress, Tennessee Healthcare Campaign, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Tennessee Independent Media Center, and WRFN Radio Free Nashville.
To read more about the official FCC public hearing in Nashville, visit www.stopbigmedia.com/=nashville
– All Photos By Bill Larson
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Monday, December 11th, 2006 by Jen Howard
The stage is set for the second official FCC hearing on ownership, due to begin at 1 p.m. CST in Nashville, Tenn. The five FCC Commissioners should be arriving to a packed house — according to Nashville’s CBS affiliate, “seating is expected to be tight” in the 1,000 seat Massey Concert Hall.
>> Click here to watch hearing
Prior to the event, journalists and news industry workers, union members and other supporters will hold a news conference to discuss job loss in the news industry and the harmful effects of growing concentration of media ownership.
>>> Click here for more info on the news conference
The first hearing in Los Angeles was an extraordinary event with people turning out in overwhelming numbers to tell all five FCC commissioners that Americans want to turn back the tide of media consolidation. As in LA, the Nashville event will feature a series of panels to be followed by hours of public testimony. It promises to be another spirited discussion. (The L.A. hearing gave us the now-famous line, “Homogenization is good for milk, but bad for ideas.”)
The FCC will stream live audio of the hearing on their site. And thanks to Mark Burdett of San Francisco Bay Area Indymedia and Elliott Mitchell of the Metropolitan Educational Access Corporation, starting at 1 p.m. CST we will also have streaming video of the hearing.
If you live within driving distance of the hearing today, do make the effort to get to the events. The StopBigMedia.com coalition has posted a number of resources (including fliers, posters, speakers’ guides and parking information) that will help make your presence count. Volunteers also will be on hand to ensure that people get the chance to testify during the hearing.
Take a personal day off work, skip class, re-arrange your schedule and head to Belmont University where opportunities to testify extend from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Let Martin know that he can’t simply ignore public opinion. Media concentration is bad news for the American public. It’s time the FCC stopped Big Media.
UPDATE: According to Broadcasting & Cable, Commissioner McDowell will be unexpectedly absent from today’s hearing. No explanation for absence given.
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Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 by Jen Howard
Some of country music’s biggest names — George Jones, Porter Wagoner, Naomi Judd, Dobie Gray, Craig Wiseman — will testify at the FCC’s upcoming hearing in Nashville on Dec. 11. In the country music capital, one would expect nothing less.
The FCC announced yesterday that the music legends are slated for a panel on issues affecting the music recording industry. The issue sure to be at the forefront of discussion: radio consolidation.
Musicians and songwriters — in Nashville and across the country — are increasingly at the mercy of a consolidated radio industry. In almost every metropolitan area, the four largest radio owners combined dominate over 70 percent of the market.
And according to a study done by the Future of Music Coalition, radio’s corporate giants almost exclusively interact with a consolidated recording industry, creating a pay-to-play system of homogenized programming with shorter, cookie-cutter playlists.
With so much control in so few hands, new musicians and songwriters have little opportunity to get their foot in the door — 80 to 100 percent of radio charts are dominated by songs released by the five major label conglomerates. Seasoned artists face lopsided deals with little creative control.
Its no wonder that critical pieces of American culture are vanishing from the commercial radio landscape, including genres like jazz, classical, bluegrass, big band and folk.
Come to the Nashville hearing on media ownership to see the country legends — but stay to tell the FCC Commissioners to bring back local, diverse, original music to our radio airwaves.
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Monday, December 4th, 2006 by Jen Howard
By Jonathan Lawson, Reclaim the Media
On Thursday, Nov. 30, over 400 people packed into the auditorium of Seattle’s downtown library for a public hearing on the FCC’s media ownership regulations. FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein presided over the event, which opened with comments from Congressman Jay Inslee.
The bulk of the nearly four-hour hearing was devoted to public testimony; a wide range of community members came ready to voice their concerns about the impact of consolidated ownership on quality journalism, viewpoint diversity, and citizen access to the airwaves and electronic media platforms.
Testimony at the Seattle hearing overwhelmingly supported maintaining — or strengthening — the FCC’s current media ownership rules. Speakers included local musicians, commercial and noncommercial radio broadcasters, labor representatives, journalists, public servants and peace activists.
For those who were not able to participate in the Seattle FCC hearing, the FCC will continue accepting written comments on media ownership through Dec. 21. Together, we must continue to demonstrate massive public support for sensible, democratic media regulation. If we keep the pressure on the FCC (and, if necessary, Congress), we will win.
Reclaim the Media will submit all oral testimony from Nov. 30 to the FCC’s official record, along with hundreds of written comments collected from Washington residents since early fall. Complete transcripts of all Nov. 30 testimony will also be posted on Reclaim the Media soon.
Click here for complete audio from the Seattle hearing.
Click here for a roundup of media coverage.
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