voxpopgirl This Girl's Voice |
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 ••ACTION ALERT: Showdown At The FCC -- Only 19 days left for you to do something!••If ever there was a more potent issue and a more crucial time to organize day-in day-out massive rallies in the streets of America's cities by those very same peace activists who did such a brilliant job at drawing the news media's attention and in turn, the American public's attention to the hundreds of thousands of united Americans against the U.S.-led war on Iraq, then the up-coming June 2 FCC vote to relax regulations on U.S. media ownership is IT -- and the time to act is NOW. Listen up. My American friends, first things first: go and read Paul Krugman's bang on Op Ed in yesterday's NY Times. Krugman correctly warns that this Monday's proposal by Republican Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, son of Sec. of State Colin Powell, and the chief architect of the plan to overhaul and relax the regulations on media ownership is not only a dangerous proposal, but it also leaves open the potential for the U.S. government's ability to reward media companies that do what it wants. Krugman writes: The plan's defects aside -- it will further reduce the diversity of news available to most people -- what struck me was the horse-trading involved. One media group wrote to Mr. Powell, dropping its opposition to part of his plan "in return for favorable commission action" on another matter. That was indiscreet, but you'd have to be very naïve not to imagine that there are a lot of implicit quid pro quos out there. And this article at Tom Paine explains into whose hands media concentration and control will fall, and which political party (take a guess) stands to gain: The Bush administration will soon hand the nation's biggest media conglomerates a new give-away that will concentrate media ownership in fewer hands. On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission, run by Michael Powell (son of Colin), plans to end long-standing federal checks and balances on corporate media power. The FCC is about to decide the fate of all its existing media ownership regulations in your country. If you think it's bad now, just wait and see what the de-regulation loving, power-mongering bullshitting bullies a.k.a. the CheneyRovebushGovernment has in store for you by June 2, courtesy of Michael K. Powell, as he helps deliver for the Bush Administration and The Republican Pretty Hate Machine one of the most sweeping regulatory actions in FCC history; an action that has the potential to radically reshape your nation's media landscape, with likely adverse consequences in media markets both big and small throughout the country. My dear American neighbours to the south, organize a rally; or two, or twenty. Do something. Now. Go here. I mean it. Go. Now. **ALSO: The very least you can do is to email the MoveOn.org folks and urge them to consider organizing protest rallies immediately -- i just did. And forward this post to all your friends or link to me while you're at it. posted by voxpopgirl | 5/14/2003 |
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