Media Ownership Hearing in LA (Oct 3, 2006)

MEDIA OWNERSHIP HEARING IN LA

* Media Ownership Rules Reviewed, And Tense Fight Is Likely Brewing
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz Amy.Schatz@wsj.com]
If the four-hour hearing held in a packed conference room at the University of Southern California is any indication of future FCC hearings, a review of media ownership rules is promising to once again be a contentious process. In some ways, it was almost more notable for who didn't show up than who did. Not a single top executive from any of the major media companies testified at the hearing to lift the ownership caps, while opponents including Hollywood unions and the Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared to testify or give their opinion in five-minutes or less. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has made little secret of his desire to loosen the restrictions, particularly to dump cross-ownership limits barring media companies from owning newspapers and television stations in most markets. He argues they aren't needed now because of the media diversity offered by the Internet and the explosion of cable and satellite television or radio programming. Complaints about job cuts in newsrooms and less local programming on radio and broadcast television stations dominated yesterday's hearing, as the audience clamored for more local ownership. "People feel proprietary about their airwaves and they don't like the way they're being used," said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. Indeed, some media activists were expressing cautious hope yesterday that if Congress changes hands in November, Democratic lawmakers might be able to put pressure on the Republican-controlled FCC to actually tighten some rules, instead of loosening them. The president appoints FCC members, although the FCC listens closely to what Congress says.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115991851846981808.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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* Consolidation in Media Is Called Stifling
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: James S. Granelli]
Hollywood, not the stars but the everyday workers, along with consumer advocates and local politicians told federal regulators Tuesday that the growing consolidation of major broadcast companies was stifling competition, creativity and diversity. The result, they told the Federal Communications Commission, was fewer jobs, lower wages, bland programming and decisions made by a handful of conglomerates, not local operators.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-fcc4oct04,1,679799.st...
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* FCC gets earful blasting at media limits hearing
Hollywood actors, producers and musicians on Tuesday crowded into a Federal Communications Commission public hearing to clamor for a halt to media conglomerates growing bigger, as the agency considers overhauling its ownership limits.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid...

* FCC hears public criticism on media ownership rules
Before a raucous standing-room only crowd in a conference room at the University of Southern California, politicians, musicians, actors and writers told commissioners that consolidating media ownership has stifled creativity and that more stringent controls against media consolidation need to be put in place.
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BA49A338F%2D9EF1...

* Hollywood bashes media consolidation
Even with new distribution channels such as the Internet, too much media consolidation is hurting the diversity of news and entertainment, many representatives of those industries told the Federal Communications Commission in a public hearing Tuesday.
http://news.com.com/Hollywood+bashes+media+consolidation/2100-1026_3-612...

* Jackson Asks FCC to Aid Media Ownership by Minorities
"There is a gap between those who own the airwaves, the people, the public, and those who control the airwaves," said civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aoeEDafTSZ.E&refer=t...

* Cannell Kicks Off FCC Hearings
Veteran TV programmer Steven J. Cannell -- a member of the Caucus of Television Producers, Writers & Directors -- told FCC Commissioners that the ability of independents to move from one network to another had been insurance against being forced to change content or give up control as the quid pro quo for network play.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6377778.html

* SAG, WGA Lodge Complaints at FCC Hearing
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) complained to FCC commissioners attending media consolidation hearings in Los Angeles Tuesday that “salary compression” by the networks has harmed mid-level actors' abilities to make a living.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6377792.html?display=Breaking...
-- Guild and Other Entertainment Industry Groups Testify at FCC Public Hearing on Media Ownership October 3
http://www.sag.org/

* Tribune draws flak at FCC hearing over L.A. properties
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-LA) and others criticized ownership of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV, Channel 5 by Chicago-based Tribune Co.
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=22313

* A call for more owners
Size matters, and smaller is better. A panel of Hollywood's creative elite delivered that message to an itinerant FCC on Tuesday in the first of a series of regional hearings tied to the commission's quadrennial review of media-ownership regulations. The collective lesson of media deregulation has been that media mass equals less diversity when it comes to programming, they said.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/business/article_display.jsp?vnu_co...

* Media Consolidation Panned at FCC Hearing
Homogenization is good for milk but bad for ideas, according to actors, directors and technical employees who urged the Federal Communications Commission to halt media consolidation. The FCC got a near universal thumbs-down on a policy that would allow major media companies like Disney and Viacom to own multiple broadcast and print outlets in any given town. Consolidation among these companies turns creative artists into employees, said Marshall Herskovitz, producer of thirtysomething, adding that such entities have no passion for the outlets they own and see them only as profitable assets.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6377870.html?display=Breaking+News

* Adelstein, TV Community Speak Out at Los Angeles FCC Hearing
Speaking during a public hearing Tuesday on media consolidation, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein drew frequent cheers by delivering a lengthy critique of media consolidation. "Since the FCC has repealed these [media consolidation] rules, the number of independent sources that provide prime-time programming to the major broadcast networks has decreased from 23 in the early 1990s to only two today. There is no justification for this," said Commissioner Adelstein. "Today, instead of directors, producers, writers and actors being free to share their creative talents, they're being forced to integrate and promote products to improve the networks' bottom line for Wall Street."
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10844
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* Media Ownership Hearing Gets Rowdy
The battle over media consolidation began with hundreds of people, including actors, writers and musicians, imploring the Federal Communications Commission to prevent media conglomerates from growing even bigger. Two FCC public hearings on the topic Tuesday resembled baseball playoff games with attendees whooping, clapping wildly and even booing as the five commissioners sat quietly and listened for more than seven hours. The more than 100 people who spoke Tuesday blamed media consolidation for increasing indecent programming, decreasing children's and educational shows, stifling political debate and shutting out Hispanics, blacks, and other minorities from access to the airwaves. Several speakers supported lifting some restrictions, noting that advertisers were shifting their spending to the Internet and cable channels even as local TV stations find it more expensive to provide news coverage of their communities.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* FCC Warned of 'Homogenization’
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6378946.html

FCC Chairman and Commissioners Statements From Public Hearing on Media Ownership in Los Angeles, CA

* Chairman Martin: "The Commission is looking for input on our rules and how they impact the three core goals they are intended to further: competition, diversity and localism. The decisions we will make about our ownership rules will be as difficult as they are critical. The media touches almost every aspect of our lives. We are dependent upon it for our news, our information and our entertainment. Indeed, the opportunity to express diverse viewpoints lies at the heart of our democracy. I recognize many of the concerns expressed about increased consolidation and preservation of diversity. But, also critical to our review is exploring and understanding the competitive realities of the media marketplace. It is our task to ensure that our ownership rules take into account the competitive environment in which media companies operate while also ensuring the promotion of localism and diversity."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-267747A1.doc

* Commissioner Copps: "I just want to emphasize what is at stake here. Our media is precious. It's how, outside of our strictly personal spheres, we speak to each other, inform each other, learn from each other, entertain each other, how we govern ourselves, and-yes-come to know ourselves as individuals and members of a larger society. Media is the most powerful enterprise we have. If we are smart about it, our media will reflect the genius, the creativity and the diversity of our great country. We will see to it that the people's airwaves truly reflect and truly enhance the talents and aspirations of all of us."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-267748A1.doc

* Commissioner Adelstein:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-2677749A1.doc

* Commissioner Tate: "The issues involved are critically important to our society. How do our younger, media- and technology-savvy citizens get their news and information? What do we make of the phenomenal growth of blogs, vlogs, and podcasts, which were just emerging when the FCC completed its last review of the rules? What is the significance of the increasing rate of broadband penetration and the resulting transformation of the Internet into a platform for streaming full-length video programming? How has consolidation affected the production of content, such as children's and family-friendly programming? There are many, many other questions we need to ask and have answered."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-267750A1.doc

* Commissioner McDowell: "In particular I look forward to learning about competition, diversity and localism in the Los Angeles media market from all of you, who have first-hand knowledge of the realities of broadcasting in this hub for the creative community. We need the information that only you can provide about how our ownership rules affect you as businesspeople and as viewers and listeners so that we can determine whether the times demand that those rules change. The more specific information and data you can provide to the Commission, the better. I am very eager to hear all points of view."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-267751A1.doc

More from People Who offered testimony

* United Church of Christ Pastor Testifying About Media Ownership Before Federal Communications Commission in Los Angeles
The Rev. S. Huw Anwyl, senior minister of Shepherd of the Hills UCC of Laguna Niguel, Calif., planned to testify before the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday, speaking to the public's urgent need for greater access to low-power FM radio.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=73698

* Martin Kaplan, director of The Norman Lear Center, is associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication:
"Mr. Chairman, there are two ways to suppress research. One is to shred its findings. The other is to refuse to conduct it. In their June dissent, Commissioners Copps and Adelstein called on the FCC to contract for independent, well-funded studies of whether there is sufficient coverage of civic affairs on local television. Mr. Chairman, please tell the public that it is the best of studies, not the worst of studies, that you now plan to conduct."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/what-i-told-the-fcc_b_30896.h...

* FCC Chairman Hears Overwhelming Opposition to Media Consolidation
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=171