Why the FCC Will Get Media Ownership Wrong Again

WHY THE FCC WILL GET MEDIA OWNERSHIP WRONG AGAIN
[SOURCE: American Progress, AUTHOR: Mark Lloyd]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission will complete its review of FCC media ownership policies this spring. All those concerned about the state of our democracy should be very worried, which is why the Center for American Progress on January 30 will unveil a new set of formulas that the FCC could use to measure the diversity available to all communities in local media markets across the country. But what if the FCC did something that was really new? What if it defined the public interest in a way that actually seemed to coincide with what most of us think that means? What if the FCC defined the public interest to mean the best interests of a democratic public? What if the FCC created an index that could really show the relationship between media ownership and what local citizens know about government? As a new Congress controlled by Democrats begins oversight of an FCC controlled by Republicans, it is crucial to begin asking why the agency repeatedly fails to ask the right questions before it tries to loosen media concentration rules. Congressional oversight, however, is not sufficient. An entirely new way of discerning media diversity in local American broadcast markets is clearly needed.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/01/media_myopia.html

See also --

* The FCC and Media Ownership Rulemaking
[SOURCE: The Associated Press]
A timeline, from June 2003 to January 2007, on the FCC's media ownership proceeding.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Media-Ownership-Timeline.html
(requires registration)

* For more on the FCC's Media Ownership proceeding see http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=initiatives/ownership