Seattle: Ground Zero for Media Reform

On Friday night, Seattle was ground zero for the media reform movement. Seattle’s “Town Hall” overflowed with a crowd of more than 1,000. Most every person in attendance took a vocal stand against any rule change that would allow large media corporations to gobble up more local outlets. The evening was important not only for the size and volume of opposition to Big Media, it was important because those who crammed into the hearing demonstrated great depth and intelligence about what’s really at stake.

Seattle Times Editor-at-Large Michael Fancher on Sunday wrote, “I have come to agree that media consolidation is, in fact, a threat to democracy. The evidence is inescapable. What surprises me is how clearly the people get it. On the left and on the right, they know that bigger media aren’t in their best interest.”

It’s time that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin gets it, too. His fumbling efforts to justify his actions by blaming others — in the face of fierce heckling from some in the audience — is one of those rare and incendiary moments in political life, where a corrupted official is confronted by the same public he’s failed to serve. [For audio of Martin’s own ‘battle in Seattle,’ click here.]

Seattle got it right and made this long-departed native both proud and profoundly homesick all at once.

For more on Seattle’s media reform, media justice community, visit Reclaim the Media. Follows is my written testimony [for audio, click here]:

= = = = =
Thank you. I’m Timothy Karr, campaign director for the media reform group Free Press and a Seattle native. This is the last of six ownership hearings. I have watched, listened to or attended all of them. One thing is clear. The public is single-mindedly opposed to any rule changes that would unleash a new wave of media consolidation.

The sentiments heard in Seattle tonight echo those voiced in Los Angeles, Nashville, Tampa, Harrisburg and Chicago. They are the same views voiced during a round of ownership hearings four years ago: We believe now as we did then that media consolidation is a bad thing.

This is not just evident in the passion of those before you, it’s a fact reflected in the record.

My group, Free Press, has done some counting. Of the people who filed comments on this issue in 2003, more than 99 percent were against any further media consolidation.

In case you missed that point let me say it again. More than 99 percent of the commenting public was against any rules that would let a single company like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation gobble up more radio and television stations in the same town.

But don’t listen to me, check your own information:

1. The Commission has claimed that cross-owned stations do more local news, but Free Press found using the FCC’s own data that markets with cross-owned stations produce fewer total minutes of local news.
2. Higher levels of local ownership lead to more local news at the market level, while increasing market concentration decreases the production of local news. This is especially relevant in Seattle where only three of the cities 13 commercial television stations are locally-owned.

Given your own evidence, what possible reason would you have to dismantle vital ownership limits and unleash more consolidation?

An industry representative sitting on a panel tonight wrote in the Seattle Times this week that broadcasters need you to strip away these rules in order to survive in the Internet age.

This simply isn’t true.

1. FCC data indicates that outside of the very largest markets, there is no financial benefit from the creation of cross-owned and duopoly combinations.
2. Only a small percentage of the public uses the Internet as their primary source for local news, and those that do are visiting the Web sites of their local broadcasters and newspapers.

So here you have it. The public passion agrees with your own empirical data. Despite what high paid industry lobbyists have told you on their daily rounds at the FCC, media consolidation is bad for us all.

The public has spoken. It’s now up to you to listen up and stop writing blank checks to Big Media. Do your jobs and do the right thing — not just for the sake of the evidence but for the benefit of our democracy.

Thank you.
= = = = =

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.