GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - FCC poised to ease media ownership limits

FillmoreSlim · 06-02-2003, 01:52 AM

Monopoly not likely in media
Choices just keep growing

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IN SUMMATION

Fears that easing restrictions on media ownership will create fewer choices for the public are not realistic in this day of satellites, cable, the Internet and other media outlets.

EDITORIAL
Today in Washington, D.C., the Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote on a series of proposals that will relax restrictions on how many television stations and newspapers a media company can own and where those stations and newspapers can be.

If you ease the rules on media ownership, say critics of the idea, you will end up with fewer and fewer corporations owning more and more major news outlets. These doubters fail to see something that is obvious: By continuing with the outmoded restrictions, you are leaving extraordinary power over the news in the hands of just one entity, the federal government.

When you stop to think about it, it's an anomaly in our liberty-loving, democratic republic that the government ever came to have so much disregard for the First Amendment, which says "Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech, or of the press ..." There have been excuses, of course. A main one -- when TV first became an inescapable fact of American life -- was that the possible networks were few in number. Intervening laws and rules are thereby justified, said Congress.

Those days are gone. Instead of three options on your TV set, or four or five or six, you have dozens, even hundreds. And watch out, because here comes the Internet, which enables just about anyone who so desires to have the equivalent of his or her own printing press.

When you add all the outlets together in this amazing day and age -- newspapers, broadcast TV, cable and satellite TV, hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, radio, local and national magazines, newsletters -- it's a stretch to suggest reducing federal controls somehow subjects us to the chance of just a few voices providing information and views on current events.

The FCC proposals would do several things, such as letting one company own TV stations penetrating 45 percent instead of just 35 percent of American households and allowing one company to have multiple media ownerships in large markets, such as both a TV and newspaper. Markets such as Salisbury's, where our daily newspaper operates along with two commercial television stations, would be unaffected.

If the FCC agrees to change the rules, there will be some unpopular consequences -- undoubtedly. But that is true of any enlargement of freedom. Allowing media companies new revenue streams can only improve their businesses and offer their customers better services.

And there will always be room for the up-and-coming entrepreneurs: Those who appeal to the best and most customers will always win at business.

Originally published Monday, June 2, 2003

06-02-2003, 01:52 AM
FillmoreSlim Confirmed User Join Date: May 2003 Location: streetz Posts: 1,236	Monopoly not likely in media Choices just keep growing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN SUMMATION Fears that easing restrictions on media ownership will create fewer choices for the public are not realistic in this day of satellites, cable, the Internet and other media outlets. EDITORIAL Today in Washington, D.C., the Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote on a series of proposals that will relax restrictions on how many television stations and newspapers a media company can own and where those stations and newspapers can be. If you ease the rules on media ownership, say critics of the idea, you will end up with fewer and fewer corporations owning more and more major news outlets. These doubters fail to see something that is obvious: By continuing with the outmoded restrictions, you are leaving extraordinary power over the news in the hands of just one entity, the federal government. When you stop to think about it, it's an anomaly in our liberty-loving, democratic republic that the government ever came to have so much disregard for the First Amendment, which says "Congress shall make no law ... abridging freedom of speech, or of the press ..." There have been excuses, of course. A main one -- when TV first became an inescapable fact of American life -- was that the possible networks were few in number. Intervening laws and rules are thereby justified, said Congress. Those days are gone. Instead of three options on your TV set, or four or five or six, you have dozens, even hundreds. And watch out, because here comes the Internet, which enables just about anyone who so desires to have the equivalent of his or her own printing press. When you add all the outlets together in this amazing day and age -- newspapers, broadcast TV, cable and satellite TV, hundreds of thousands of Internet sites, radio, local and national magazines, newsletters -- it's a stretch to suggest reducing federal controls somehow subjects us to the chance of just a few voices providing information and views on current events. The FCC proposals would do several things, such as letting one company own TV stations penetrating 45 percent instead of just 35 percent of American households and allowing one company to have multiple media ownerships in large markets, such as both a TV and newspaper. Markets such as Salisbury's, where our daily newspaper operates along with two commercial television stations, would be unaffected. If the FCC agrees to change the rules, there will be some unpopular consequences -- undoubtedly. But that is true of any enlargement of freedom. Allowing media companies new revenue streams can only improve their businesses and offer their customers better services. And there will always be room for the up-and-coming entrepreneurs: Those who appeal to the best and most customers will always win at business. Originally published Monday, June 2, 2003 __________________ New and Improved Chameleon Submitter 2.0 - Submit to TGP and MGP sites - GET YOURS TODAY!