Senate Approves Resolution Blocking Media Consolidation
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 5/16/2008
On May 15, the Senate approved overwhelmingly by voice vote a "resolution of disapproval" that prevents the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from implementing a rule change eliminating a longstanding limit on how many media outlets any one company could own.
"Today's historic Senate vote is a resounding victory for the vast majority of Americans who oppose media consolidation," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, a media reform organization.
Reps. Jay Inslee D. Wash. and Dave Reichert, R. Wash., have introduced a similar resolution in the House of Representatives. The Bush administration has threatened a veto.
Civil rights and media reform organizations opposed the rule when it was adopted by the FCC on December 18, arguing that the consolidation of media ownership infringes on the free market of ideas and decreases local, minority and women ownership of media outlets.
According to the ACLU, the FCC rule "create[s] enough loopholes for the merger of just about any broadcast station with any newspaper in any market."
In a May 12 letter supporting the resolution, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights urged the Senate to approve the measure because the FCC did not take the proper steps to assess the impact the rule would have on minority and female ownership.
The letter states: "LCCR believes in the "free market of ideas" and that the health of our nation's democracy depends on the continued existence of a diversity of viewpoints in the public domain. Diversity of voices, not merely a variety of programming is essential."
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 have further loosened 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
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.
