Tuesday, June 10, 2003

TODAY'S NEWS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY GREED

The US Federal Communication Commission recently loosened its rules on media ownership.

As the Washington Post reported: "By a 3 to 2 vote along party lines, the five-member commission largely lifted the 28-year-old ban that prohibited a newspaper from buying a television or radio station in the same city. The commission also allowed broadcast networks to buy more stations at the local and national levels."

Critics fear that this will lead to even greater consolidation of media ownership to the beneift of the likes of Rupert Murdoch and other Hearstian moguls.

"Media companies such as News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. said their businesses were hamstrung by obsolete rules that prevented their broadcast networks and stations from competing effectively with the burgeoning cable industry." Hamstrung? Sorry? News Corp owns the (London) Times, Sun, News of the World, a string of papers in Australia and Asia, the New York Post, the Fox Network (and several local outlets, plus all the Fox cable channels), BSkyB and a slew of associated channels in the UK and Europe, Star TV in Asia, several large publishing houses, record companies, several small countries and countless politicians around the world...any more? I've forgotten what Disney owns but it's almost as huge. Hamstrung? Pull the other one.

No doubt, Mr M will be asking Mr B to lift the rules over here, becuase GW let him take over US media and what about that special relationship and does he want the Sun to give him a second term?

Working for Change has a nice spin on this.

Oh, by the way, the FCC chairman is Michael Powell, son of Colon. (Thanks to Evil Bus Driver for the correction.)

Read more here.

Update: See also this diagram outlining the large tentacles of media companies from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, agit-prop noise monsters. NB - there is an error on the chart, so check the correction too.

:: Posted by pete @ 13:43