Groups to Address Local Impact of Media Consolidation
Posted February 21st, 2007 by Jen Howard
When the FCC announced its hearing in Harrisburg two weeks ago, it was described as an opportunity for those in the Harrisburg area to “discuss media ownership, including specific issues facing that local market.”
Local and national public interest groups and labor unions plan to do just that.
These groups will be holding a press conference — immediately before the FCC’s hearing — to address the negative impact of consolidation on local communities.
Like many smaller cities, the Harrisburg media market is already highly concentrated, with four firms controlling nearly 80 percent of the area’s local news.
According to the Consumer Federation of America, if the FCC eliminated its rule prohibiting the dominant newspaper from being owned by a local broadcaster, then a single owner could possibly take over 60 percent of the Harrisburg area news market.
Local groups oppose further consolidation, saying that Big Media companies do not serve the needs of their communities.
Rev. Nathaniel Gadsden, broadcaster with Harrisburg’s WHP-TV 21 and 1440 AM:
“Local media works best when it provides information and stories about local people, places and things of interest to the people it serves, and when it reflects the needs of the majority and minority people in the community. We need to protect local media, because it provides a tremendous boost to community cohesion when the media responds to all aspects of the community, regarding race, culture, economic background, gender and religious differences.”
Lauri Lebo, a Harrisburg writer and reporter:
“At a time of fantastic and rapid changes in the presentation of news, information is still, for the most part, gathered by traditional method – knowing your sources, your community and your subject better than anyone else. It still means old-fashioned, shoe-leather journalism. But media consolidation spells cuts in resources, which threatens that depth and breadth of knowledge and does a disservice to democracy.”
Jim Haigh, Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association:
“Our nation’s airwaves are a public trust. Maintaining a license for broadcast spectrum is a privilege, not a right. Community interests take precedent over pure profit. Monopolistic media concentration will further transform our airwaves from a vital public resource into an exclusive tool for a handful of corporations. This hammer will smash competition and muzzle local voices.”
If you live in the Harrisburg area, take time out of your busy schedule to join us and let Chairman Martin know that local communities need locally owned media.
I do some work with the NAB in Washington and would be interested in hearing the panel’s thoughts regarding the survivability of small independent broadcasters in an age when they must compete not only amongst one another but also against cable, satellite (both television and radio), and the Internet for the advertising dollars on which they rely. It would seem to me that without the resources afforded by corporate ownership, many of these outfits simply could not afford to continue operations and would be forced to close their doors, resulting in a further loss of independent voices and programming.
February 21st, 2007 at 4:40 pm