Senate Committee Approves Resolution Blocking Further Media Consolidation
Feature Story by Angela Okamura - 5/7/2008
On April 24, the Senate Commerce Committee approved a "resolution of disapproval" that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from implementing a rule change eliminating a longstanding limit on how many media outlets any one company could own, paving the way for consideration by the full Senate.
"The Senate's defense of quality journalism, local news and diverse and independent voices couldn't happen at a more critical time," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, a media reform organization.
The rule, adopted by the FCC on December 18, was opposed by civil rights and media reform organizations, who argued that the consolidation of media ownership infringes on the free market of ideas and decreases local, minority and women ownership of media outlets.
At an October 2007 FCC hearing on local media ownership, Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, explained why civil rights groups care about media diversity, stating, "Every American should be concerned about the loss of the independent journalistic voices that have connected our nation, served our local communities, and provided the foundation for our democracy. If a company can buy a wide variety of media in the same community, it essentially provides one voice, not many. This means less diversity of viewpoints."
In the years since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the six largest media conglomerates have bought out many small media companies once owned by minorities. The 1996 law relaxed rules that prohibited media companies from owning different types of media in the same market. The new rule would further loosen those rules.
Currently, racial and ethnic minorities make up one-third of the U.S. population, but own only 7.7 percent of full-power commercial radio stations and 3.26 percent of full-power commercial television stations, according to an October 2007 Free Press report. Women make up 51 percent of the population but own just 6 percent of full-power commercial radio stations and 5.87 of full-power commercial television stations.
At the same time, opportunity for employment in the media industry has made little progress, whether for positions in front of the camera or influential positions behind it. Overall U.S. job growth was 22 percent between 1990 and 2005, but jobs in the communications and media sector grew by only 14 percent during that time period, according to a July 2006 report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the Communications Workers of America, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund.
"The way the media covers issues is directly related to who the reporters and producers and anchors are - to who is actually employed by the media. Who is employed by the media is directly related to who owns the media. And who owns the media is directly related to policies that determine who gets a federal license to operate and who does not," said Henderson.
In 2003, the FCC tried to enact a similar rule that would have loosened limits on media ownership, including allowing large media conglomerates to own more television stations. That rule was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on the grounds that the FCC hadn't provided "a reasoned analysis to support" the change in ownership limits.
