Holy shit. So the FCC is apparently burying studies they don't like. In a hearing yesterday, Senator Boxer nailed FCC Chairman Kevin Martin with the leaked draft of an FCC report that the FCC was suppressing. Boxer was waving around the study, nailing him hard, and he was squirming, blaming it on former Chairman Michael Powell, and saying he'd never seen it.
Freepress.net, founded by Bob McChesney, and the same guys who started the Save the Internet Coalition to preserve net neutrality, have all the info... And you can watch the clip--it's almost hilarious, if it weren't sad.
The FCC's suppressed study shows local media owners devote more time to local news. That is, if you want more local news on TV, you don't want Sinclair or some other chain owning your stations.
While you and I might not get our news from TV, most people do, and those people vote. It matters if one company owns everything those people see...
In 2002 and 2003 the Commission commissioned and released 12 studies on media ownership, and used some of the studies as evidence that they could gut the ownership limits. Their rules would have let one company own the cable system, three TV stations, eight radio stations, and the newspaper in the same town.
You can read Free Press's press release, read the report, and watch Sen. Boxer totally sodomize Kevin Martin, all on this page
Here are some highlights of the suppressed study.
The study also found:
* Locally owned stations also aired 3.5 more minutes' worth of on-location local news reports than non-locally owned stations.
* Network owned and operated stations (those owned by ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) aired significantly less local news.
*Owners who controlled stations in multiple markets aired less local news content.
* Station owners who also control newspapers did not air more local news content.
* Owners who also controlled radio stations aired significantly less local TV news content.
Boxer deserves kudos.
The Commission should hear it too. Here's Martin's email address: kevin.martin@fcc.gov
This has gotten a lot of attention on media watchdog blogs. It's really something to make noise about I think.