In Iowa, Clinton Is Pressed on Murdoch

IN IOWA, CLINTON IS PRESSED ON MURDOCH
[SOURCE: New York Times 11/25, AUTHOR: Patrick Healy]
The curious relationship between Hillary Rodham Clinton, presidential candidate, and Rupert Murdoch, media baron, flashed briefly before the eyes of Iowans on Saturday night during a Clinton campaign event. A woman in the audience rose to ask Sen Clinton (D-NY) about Mr. Murdoch’s ownership of multiple media outlets (Fox News, The New York Post, soon The Wall Street Journal, and various other organs), and also whether Americans would “lose out democracy” if one person is in control of the media. And Sen Clinton played both sides in her answer, responding sympathetically to the woman’s concern about media consolidation, but also making clear that she wasn’t singling out “any company in particular” for condemnation. “There have been a lot of media consolidations in the last several years, and it is quite troubling,” Sen Clinton began her reply. “The fact is, most people still get their news from television, from radio, even from newspapers. If they’re all owned by a very small group of people — and particularly if they all have a very similar point of view ­ it really stifles free speech.” Sen Clinton pledged that as president, she would appoint commissioners to the Federal Communications Commission who supported “competition in the media,” and she hailed Theodore Roosevelt as a model for his trust-busting approach to monopolistic corporate impulse. “It’s bad for consumers because you limit choice,” Sen Clinton said of media consolidations, and “it’s bad for citizens because it limits the diversity we have.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/in-iowa-clinton-is-pressed...
(requires registration)

* Clinton's missed opportunity
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/dailydemocracy/index.html#020401