Stop the FCC

Unless, of course, you like being bombarded with the likes of Clear Channel and FOX TV. The Trouble With Corporate Radio: The Day the Protest Music Died

Clear Channel, the radio and concert conglomerate, has been the greatest beneficiary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which stripped all ownership limits in the radio industry. The rapacious company, led by Bush supporter Lowry Mays, has grown from 40 stations to 1,225 since then, and now uses its power to routinely bully advertisers and record companies, and more recently, censor antiwar artists. However, as Eric Boehlert points out, its "success" may be the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of media activists. Clear Channel's stranglehold on the radio industry is the best and clearest example of the effects of rampant deregulation.

See Clear Channel's Big, Stinking Deregulation Mess Can we stand more of the same? Can we live with corporate/state sponsered media? It's urgent that we express our views, file public comments with the FCC and exercise our rights to fair media. NOW! The vote for deregulation is June 2.

On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission intends to lift restrictions on media ownership that could allow your local newspaper, cable provider, radio stations, and TV channels all to be owned by one company. The result could be the disappearance of the checks and balances provided by a competitive media marketplace -- and huge cutbacks in local news and reporting. Good, balanced information is the basis for our democracy. That's why we're asking that: "Congress and the FCC should stop media deregulation and work to make the media diverse, competitive, balanced, and fair."

posted by Cyndy | link | | |
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