Media Ownership and the Jena 6
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has a letter in today’s Washington Post connecting the absence of minority media owners to the plight of the Jena 6.
Copps praises columnist Eugene Robinson’s recent column on how black radio spread the word about this miscarriage of justice while it was largely ignored by the traditional press. But he worries that runaway media consolidation threatens such independent voices.
While the Post, ahem, didn’t bother to cover last week’s media ownership hearing in Chicago — which happened the same day as the massive protests in Jena, La. — Copps offers a glimpse of what they missed:
Last week in Chicago, I heard passionate testimony during an eight-hour Federal Communications Commission hearing on minority media ownership. Many people of color are tired of big media ignoring their concerns, distorting their contributions to society and caricaturing them as individuals. One reason is the lack of minority media ownership. A Free Press study says that while racial and ethnic minorities are more than 30 percent of the U.S. population, they own just 3.26 percent of all commercial broadcast television stations and 7.7 percent of full-power radio stations. This is a national disgrace.
Before the FCC again heads down the dangerous road of permitting huge media conglomerates to grow even bigger — something it’s looking at right now — it should act on proposals to increase minority ownership.
This echoes his colleague Jonathan Adelstein’s call for the creation an independent Minority Ownership Task Force. The FCC has neglected the issue of minority ownership for far too long. We need to solve these problems first before taking any action that could leave our media in even fewer hands.
Add Your Voice: Tell the FCC to Put Diversity Back in the Picture
I do some consulting work with the NAB and would wholly agree that women and minorities deserve a fair share of media involvement. I would also assert that free competition is equally important, as it keeps the debate current and vibrant. To achieve both of these goals, we must craft policies that ensure opportunities for women and minorities and also have the flexibility to fuel growth.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:07 pm