(UPDATED title from "Occupy the FCC")
Apparently the FCC is laying groundwork to FURTHER enable monopolization of the media by a select few.
As if the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that Clinton signed was not bad enough, here we have another Democratic President sitting by as our public airwaves are handed over to the top 1% on a silver platter.
As per the show biz news site Deadline Hollywood- which includes a lot more significant news items (relating to the media) than you might initially imagine:
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is prepared to junk federal rules that limit companies from owning TV and radio stations in the same market — and go half way in doing the same for TV stations and newspapers. He’s circulating a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would wipe out the TV-newspaper restriction in the 20 largest markets, trade magazine Broadcasting and Cable reports citing “a person familiar with the document.”
The article goes on to say that when Bush Jr's appointee to the FCC, Kevin Martin tried to enact a similar rule change in 2008 it was struck down in the courts.
Lets hope supporters of free speech are willing to mobilize again against this latest attempt to pander to the media elites.
The FCC isn’t expected to vote on Genachowski’s proposal until next year, giving advocates (of 'cross-ownership restrictions') opportunities to voice their opinions. But B&C says that it already has the support of three commissioners.