More incentive for media consolidation from FCC
December 18, 2007 2 Comments
This is the worst news since Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal:
The Federal Communications Commission relaxed a 32-year-old ban preventing a newspaper from owning a radio or television station in the same city today during an unusually contentious hearing.
The partial lifting of the ban would allow a newspaper to merge with one radio or television station in the nation’s top 20 media markets (Washington, D.C., is included), as long as the television station is not one of the top-four-rated in that city. This essentially prevents a newspaper from buying a station affiliated with one of the four major television networks, ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox.
I’m reticent to strike a cynical note again, but if the quality of commercial media were higher, this ruling possibly could constitute a setback for the nation’s civic life.
But, frankly, it’s hard to see how the “MSM” could become much more homogeneous and superfluous than they already are.
The Internet is where serious people go for information nowadays.
Michael Blaine
http://www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com
I should have made explicit one of the principal advantages of the Internet in tracking down news, commentary and analysis: it makes it easy to reach beyond the shores of the US for truth!
Michael Blaine
http://www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com