{"id":218,"date":"2006-08-27T12:31:22","date_gmt":"2006-08-27T19:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=218"},"modified":"2008-11-14T09:35:57","modified_gmt":"2008-11-14T17:35:57","slug":"the-los-angeles-times-hears-its-masters-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Times Hears Its Master’s Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>In an editorial<\/a> published Friday, August 25, the L. A. Times took a courageous stand in favor of propping up its parent corporation, The Tribune Company. By supporting the latest power-grab being proposed by the FCC, the Times\/Tribune are really just supporting their own economic interests at the expense of the public.<\/p>\n

In 2003, the FCC attempted to ram through a new set of ownership rules that would allow the already too big media empires to consolidate even more. They did this with little concern for the public’s interest or input. What transpired was an unprecedented uproar from citizens who persuaded their representatives to pass a bill repealing the FCC’s measure. Subsequently, a federal Court of Appeals struck down the rest of the regulation calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”<\/em> So how does the Times characterize these events?<\/p>\n

It starts by portraying the FCC as the embattled servant of goodness, seeking only to liberate the well-meaning media companies from, “unreasonable government restrictions on their activities.”<\/span> But they are foiled by the sinister court system and the Senate, which was, “prodded by a motley alliance of anti-corporate zealots and conservative activists.”<\/span> Unmentioned in this mythologizing is that the prodding actually came from a record 3 million complaints from the people to the FCC. The Senate responded, not to some motley alliance<\/em>, but to their constituents. It’s called Democracy and someone should tell Tribune about it. The editorial goes on to make some shockingly untrue assessments of the modern media landscape:<\/p>\n

“…what the FCC tried to do three years ago was too modest. In an age of cable and satellite TV – not to mention an age of YouTube.com – it’s no longer justifiable for the government to impose any limits on how many affiliates broadcast networks can own, given that CBS, NBC and ABC no longer control the distribution of their programming the way they did when American families gathered around their sets to watch “I Love Lucy.”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
\n
\n The Internet itself is at risk of becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the Media\/Telecom Complex…<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Too modest<\/em>? That requires a massive dose of hubris to lay down. Something the Times neglected to mention was that in this age, the cable, satellite, and broadcast networks, to which they refer, are owned largely by the same handful of corporate megaliths. And since they brought up YouTube, it should be noted that the Internet phenom is currently the subject of persistent rumors<\/a> that it is about to acquired by, you guessed it, a major media corporation. The Internet itself is at risk of becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the Media\/Telecom Complex who oppose Net Neutrality and favor monopolistic convergence. Already, 9 of the top 11<\/a> Internet news sites are owned by Big Media.<\/p>\n

It is true, though, that the broadcast networks no longer control the distribution of their programming the way they once did. They now have more<\/em> control. With the repeal of the financial\/syndication rules a few years ago, they can now fully own the programming that they broadcast. Now independent producers are getting shut out by the networks who would rather schedule programs that they own because they make more money that way – particularly in syndication.<\/p>\n

And then there’s this Orwellian pearl…<\/p>\n

“More cities might still have a competitive newspaper market if more broadcasters had been allowed to buy newspapers in the past.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s impossible to fathom how they define competition. If more broadcasters (who are buying each other) were allowed to buy more newspapers (who are buying each other), you eventually end up with little or no competition at all. And that’s exactly the way they like it. <\/p>\n

This editorial reveals a self-serving media empire that reflects the industry overall. In the past 25 years, the number of companies that controlled the majority of media output plunged from 50 to 5. If they have their way, they will continue to purge every voice of independence and diversity from the public arena.<\/p>\n

Your voice is needed now to persuade Washington’s regulators and legislators that competition is not enhanced by consolidation. Use this form<\/a> provided by Stop Big Media<\/a> (a project of FreePress.net<\/a>) to send your thoughts to the FCC. There is much more information available at that site. And let your representatives know how feel as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an editorial published Friday, August 25, the L. A. Times took a courageous stand in favor of propping up its parent corporation, The Tribune Company. By supporting the latest power-grab being proposed by the FCC, the Times\/Tribune are really just supporting their own economic interests at the expense of the public. In 2003, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[1138,61],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-media","category-general","tag-fcc","tag-los-angeles-times"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-3w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":698,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=698","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":0},"title":"FCC Bends Over Backwards For Big Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/7\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Federal Communications Commission has granted the Tribune Company the waiver it sought to continue operating the newspapers and television stations it owns in the same market. The waiver is required due to a regulation that forbids such cross-ownership. But the decision that produced the waiver was Machiavellian in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1084,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1084","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":1},"title":"The FCC Probes Pentagon Propaganda Program – Finally","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/9\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\"World War Three will be a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.\" ~ Marshall McLuhan, 1968 The FCC is finally beginning to take some action on perhaps the most egregious propaganda assault ever directed at the American people by their own government. From the International\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":552,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=552","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":2},"title":"L A Times Downplays FCC Hurdles For Dow Jones Deal","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/9\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Los Angeles Times published an article yesterday titled, \"Dow Jones deal prompts call to broaden cross-ownership ban,\" that included this passage: \"Federal rules try to limit media power by prohibiting a company from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same city. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":355,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=355","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":3},"title":"The Sock Puppetry Of The Los Angeles Times","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/19\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Cross-ownership in the media business is a growing threat to the independence and diversity of the press. Numerous studies have demonstrated that when newspapers and television stations in the same market are owned by the same parent corporation, balanced coverage and local reporting suffer. One such study that was originally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":292,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=292","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":4},"title":"The FCC’s Ownership Quandry","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/7\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Federal Communications Commission is getting it from both sides. A consortium of broadcasters and publishers wrote to Chairman Kevin Martin, to complain that they still don't have as much of a stranglehold on the public's attention as they would like. The letter was signed by all of the broadcast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=246","url_meta":{"origin":218,"position":5},"title":"The FCC Weapons of Mass Comminication Tour 2006","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/4\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The people do not want bigger media monopolies stuffing homogenized content from corporate headquarters down the throats of local consumers. In the first of six public meetings on new rules for media ownership, members of the Federal Communications Commission brought their dog and pony show to Los Angeles. All five\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}