As Kossacks may know, I was able to ask a question to Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton on media consolidation at the Yearly Kos presidential forum.
I was glad to get some kind of answer from the candidates on this important question, as it isn't a question that will ever be asked on mainstream media outlets. If you are someone who is concerned about the effects of media consolidation on our democracy, I encourage you to join me in pressuring all of the Democratic candidates to take a stand on media consolidation.
John Edwards recently did on CNN, and I bet with your emails and phone calls, we can get more candidates on the record.
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Cross posted at The Seminal
Here is the exchange at Yearly Kos, via Talking Points Memo:
Earlier this week, John Edwards was berated by Wolf Blitzer for publishing a book through Harper Collins, a division of News Corp. He’s got a great answer to Wolf’s silly question, and he gets into media consolidation issues too:
Seems like the subject of who controls America’s media is finally getting some attention in the mainstream press, which is a welcome surprise from the usual silence we get on this issue. I’m hoping to get the other campaigns to answer similar questions in the upcoming weeks. Feel free to help me by contacting the campaigns, democratic and republican alike, and asking something like:
With a handful of companies controlling the majority of news and information Americans consume, lack of a diversity of viewpoints in the news is threatening our democracy. What do you plan to do about media consolidation, net neutrality, and broadband Internet access for unconnected Americans?
With some citizen awareness, we can move this important issue to the national stage. Who’s with me? Call the campaigns! Email them too! Get the candidates to come out on this issue.