We were fortunate to have a local publisher, Jim Kydd, who knows what is going on in our local government, within the local education system and in our business community. He involved himself in this last election and was smeared for it by Mayor Stocks and his supporters. But, Kydd was honored at a local party this season.
No matter what one's political background, there is agreement that the FCC needs to do it's job to disallow monopoly ownership like we have now with Rupert Murdock or or local version, Douglas Manchester.
"In 1983, 50 corporations controlled a majority of American media. Now that number is six. And Big Media may get even bigger, thanks to the FCC’s consideration of ending a rule preventing companies from owning a newspaper and radio and TV stations in the same city. On this week’s Moyers & Company, Senator Bernie Sanders, one of several Senators who have written FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asking him to suspend the plan, joins Bill to discuss why Big Media is a threat to democracy and what citizens can do to fight back. Watch and share two preview clips below." [editor: emphasis mine as we are in the middle of an unfolding story]
In the first clip, Sanders explains how letting Big Media have its way would limit discussion of “the real issues that impact ordinary people.” Sanders also expresses his dismay that such a move would come from an Obama appointee. “Why the Obama Administration is doing something that the Bush Administration failed to do is beyond my understanding,” Sanders tells Bill. “And we’re gonna do everything we can to prevent it from happening.”
In this second clip, Senator Sanders shares his belief that, unlike previous attempts, the FCC is trying to suspend the rule more secretly and without much public input. Sanders also talks about the effect of this action on minority- and women-owned media in particular.
Watch the full interview this weekend on Moyers & Company. Click here to find show times and channels in your area.
Check out our “Fight Media Monopoly” spotlight page for the latest interviews, insight, and information on Big Media’s power play.
© 2012 Bill Moyers Media copied in its entirety from Common Dreams.
Additionally, our local Patch Online includes this article, "Local Media 'Dropped the Ball' in Covering Judge Candidate, KPBS News Chief Says."
KPBS Senior News Editor Mark Sauer says “far right-wing” hopeful Gary Kreep was overlooked. [ . . . ]Sauer admitted “failure” in KPBS not telling its radio and TV audiences (and website readers) about Kreep’s background, which included representing the birther movement as it challenged President Obama’s U.S. citizenship.
The San Diego County Bar Association gave Kreep, a Ramona lawyer, its lowest rating—“lacking qualifications,” Sauer noted.
Kreep defeated deputy district attorney Garland Peed 50 percent to 49.6 percent for judge office 34—winning by 1,739 votes out of 407,209 cast.
Addressing the thrust of this post, this failure of Big Media to serve it's democratic duty to inform the electorate, Sauer could expand on the U-T failures as he was a reporter for 27 years.
Sauer noted that the U-T newsroom boasted 285 people at its peak about seven years ago. Today, he said, he’d be surprised if 80 worked in the newsroom.[ . . . ]As a result of the “terrible loss” of many respected reporters such as environmental writer Mike Lee—now a “flak for the Water Authority”—the U-T can’t do the kind of reporting necessary to keep readers informed on democratic institutions, he said.
He said the U-T under current publisher Doug Manchester probably wouldn’t expose the kind of bribery case that led to Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham being convicted—which won the paper a Pulitzer Prize.
Sauer said he hasn’t watched U-T TV for more than 10 minutes at a time, and “they’re not doing an objective newscast.”
KPBS—with an audience of 350,000 a day—has a half-dozen reporters who do investigations, Sauer said, and also teams with Investigative News Source run by former U-T editor Lorie Hearn.
But “we don’t do nearly enough,” he said, calling broadcast news coverage “a mile wide and an inch deep.”
Today, it takes a real commitment for people to wade through and reject a lot of superficial and fact free pap to find news and information to trust. Blogging is one way those of us who care about making more independent and first hand news available feel we can contribute.
