Month: April 2006

FCC Chief: Too Many Voices In The News

Posted by on April 4, 2006 at 8:50 pm. NO Comments :

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin, told an audience of newspaper publishers that he supports repealing the ban on cross-ownership that prohibits owning a newspaper and television station in the same market. These rules promote greater diversity for news consumers, but Martin would prefer to pander to the media conglomerates he is supposed to be regulating.

In support of his contention that cross-ownership regs hurt publishers, he raises the point that there are some 300 fewer newspapers today than when the regs went into effect 30 years ago. However, it is far more likely that the decline in papers was caused by too much consolidation, not too little.

Martin made clear whose side he is on and, as evidence of his allegiences, he tells the Newspaper Association of America that it is their responsibility to change public opinion that presently favors current law.

“The public is not convinced of the need to change these rules, and if you can’t convince the public, our chances to do that are dim.”

It might be nice if the FCC were advocating on behalf of the public instead of implying that the only thing holding back the publisher’s rule change is the public’s failure to be convinced of the rule’s harm. It might be nice if the FCC recognized that the public just may know what is in it’s own best interest.

Chris Matthews: Chowderhead

Posted by on April 4, 2006 at 10:34 am. NO Comments :

Yesterday, Chris Matthews interviewed Gen. Anthony Zinni and pressed him on the administration’s planning for post-invasion Iraq.

Matthews: Who believed there would not be resistance? What fool thought that a third world country would let us march into their country and start calling the shots without resistance? I mean, I am just saying. Who believes that?

Zinni: Well, I can tell you, the planners at the Pentagon seemed to adopt these very naive expectations and assumptions.

Matthews: What kind of a chowder head would believe that in the middle of the Arab world we were going to face this magical situation where everybody is going to be giving us flowers, the girls are going to be kissing us, they‘ll be jumping on our tanks, in love with our G.I.‘s.

Zinni: Nobody in the Arab world believed it. I talked to all the leaders there.

Then Matthews really lets himself have it: For about a day or two, I was saluting it. It looked like, it was like a P.R. stunt, the whole country was tearing down statues and loving our guys.

There you have it. Matthews is the fool, the chowderhead, that believed the hype – by his own admission. And he is soft-pedalling his seduction by characterizing it as “a day or two.” He stumped for this occupation for months, if not years.

Feds Fix Fines For Radio Friends

Posted by on April 4, 2006 at 1:55 am. NO Comments :

Payola in radio is an old story but, like everything else in the age of new media, it has been made over by technology and a regulatory environment that curtails competition. Now the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is actively running interference for the radio corporations who have been playing the payola game.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accused federal regulators Monday of going behind his back to negotiate with radio companies caught in a “payola” scandal, and saying the move undercuts the case he’s been building for years.

The FCC’s efforts on behalf of corporate media giants like Clear Channel and CBS, seek to let them off the hook with fines of about $1 million. Spitzer’s settlements were in the $10 to $20 million range.

Payola is an insidious crime that benefits broadcasters and record labels at the expense of artists, particularly local and emerging artists that are kept off of the airwaves.

Sen. Russ Feingold has introduced legislation to crackdown on this activity, but it has yet to be considered. In the meantime, the FCC is helping their pals avoid the consequences of having violated the current laws.