New Book Makes The Case Against Media Consolidation
Posted 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
Wall Street should get out of the radio business altogether, and give the airwaves back to the people who are passionate about radio. We should also get rid of voicetracking, which deceives the listener into thinking the program is done live, when it is actually pre-recorded hundreds or thousands of miles away. Another thing we need to get rid of, not only in radio, but also in all the media, is the policy of patronage and cronyism (”It’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know”) as hiring policy; it allows unqualified talent an unfair advantage over talent who have busted their tails at smaller commercial, public or Christian radio stations for 10, 15, 20 years or more. Voicetracking and patronage have hurt more people than it will ever help. Both of these need to be banned if radio is to have a future.
Getting rid of “HD Radio” is another thing that also needs to be done. It is spectrally inefficient; on an analog receiver, it wastes up to 100 kHz of AM spectrum space and 600 kHz of FM spectrum space. DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), being tested in Europe and on selected shortwave radio stations, wastes 40 kHz of valuable spectrum space. We need to find separate spectrum for terrestrial digital audio broadcasting, ban digital audio broadcasting on AM, FM and shortwave in the United States, and restore the C-QUAM standard for stereophonic broadcasting on AM.
We also need a permanent ban on corporate ownership of Christian radio and restrictions of religious programming on secular radio. Corporate ownership of Christian radio is contrary to the Bible’s teaching that loving money is the root of all evil. Christian radio should only be owned by churches, not-for-profit Christian organizations, and committed Christian business men and women. The same should also be applied for radio stations oriented to all other religions.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:36 amJazzJockSTL