The Nation: Not Your Father's FCC

[marmar]

article | posted March 20, 2008 (April 7, 2008 issue)
Not Your Father's FCC
Michael J. Copps


"To the extent that the ownership of and control of...broadcast stations falls into fewer and fewer hands," the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concluded, "the free dissemination of ideas and information, upon which our democracy depends, is threatened." With those words, the FCC ordered the breakup of the leading broadcast network and banned a single company from owning more than one station per city.

Is this an FCC you recognize? Probably not. That's because it's not your FCC--it's your father's FCC (maybe even your grandfather's). These media reforms were the work of James Lawrence Fly, the FCC chairman appointed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. A card-carrying New Deal trustbuster with good access to the President, Fly was a relentless opponent of "chain broadcasting"--the domination of local broadcasting by the CBS and NBC Red and Blue radio networks.

What a far cry from the media regulation we have today. In 1981 President Reagan appointed an FCC chairman who described a television set as nothing but a "toaster with pictures." The commission went on to dismantle nearly every public-interest obligation on the books and to enable a tsunami of media consolidation. The results have been disastrous--reporters fired, newsrooms shuttered and our civic dialogue dumbed down to fact-free opinions and ideological bloviation.

The good news--to paraphrase Arthur Schlesinger Jr.--is that eras of reform follow periods of reaction. The New Deal for media in the late 1930s came not a moment too soon. The "Roaring Twenties" emphasized media commercialism and consolidation. Though educational institutions operated stations in radio's infancy, by the time of the New Deal, fifteen years of regulatory decisions ensured that they had been crowded out by large for-profit corporations. (See Robert McChesney's and Paul Starr's works for gripping accounts of this fight.)

Even the early New Deal bill creating the FCC largely ratified the status quo by omitting a Senate amendment that would have allocated 25 percent of the radio spectrum to nonprofit broadcasters. Only with the reforms of the Fly-era FCC did the New Deal really begin to grapple with media consolidation. Even that momentum stalled too soon, as--in FDR's own words--"Dr. Win-the-War" came to supplant "Dr. New Deal." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080407/copps

[JimiJonga]

1. Thank Bill Clinton/Congress -Major issue, no players.

Bill Clinton pushed this through a Gingrinch House and Senate. But Bill was a middle-road democrat wasnt he? We all bitched and moaned a little, but the economy was booming, so who gave a fuck? Not very many.... More forest acreage lost under his administration than Bush Sr. also Im sure.


This is major, as talk radio took over the retarded AM air, Clinton spawned Limbaugh so to speak.

Cant see it going back anytime soon.

[Nay]

3. Many of us who are 55+ were never under the illusion that Clinton was a Dem.

He is/was a moderate Republican, like the Pubs from our youth. He was certainly better than that dumbo warmonger Reagan, but he was STILL a republican. Lots of us were disgusted, but not surprised, at stuff like NAFTA, the telecom bill, etc., etc. This is why a large proportion of us don't want Hillary Clinton in office and Rush Limpbrain wants her in. As far as Rush is concerned, Hillary or McCain would be fine. Obama not so good!

RW pubs have managed to push most everyone rightward. When I was a child, ppl who didn't want school taxes raised because "they didn't have children" were considered to be 1) selfish assholes, and 2) blindly ignorant of their own welfare, considering the benefits they received from having an educated populace. Now these assholes are all over the place, spouting the same shit, and they're on the front lines for religious schooling, vouchers, NCLB (useful for destroying public schools) and all sorts of libertarian nonsense like private toll roads, "free" trade, union busting, etc.

Spare me the crap about Clintons being Dems. Bush Sr. is one of their best friends, for God's sake.

[libodem]

2. And no Fairness Doctrine...

All RW talking points all the time!!!