« Tully | Main | And Now a Word From Our Sponsor »
September 4, 2003
Good News on Deregulation
Good news (NYTimes, free subscription required) about the FCC proposal for further deregulation of media ownership. A federal appeals court issued an order blocking the new rules that would have allowed further media consolidation. This proposal faced massive bipartisan criticism over the summer, and I'm happy to see that the appeals court stepped up to the plate (in a unanimous decision) to block the rules, one of which would have allowed companies "to buy enough stations to reach 45 percent of the nation's viewers" (NYT). This relaxation of media ownership likely would have damaged local ownership--and control--of media outlets beyond repair. I'm kind of sleepy this morning (hence the disjointed thoughts), but this news is very encouraging to me. Not only does it prevent Fox, ClearChannel, and Viacom from extending their reach even further, it also illustrates how grass-roots political efforts can succeed. The massive expression of public disapproval certainly helped prevent further media concentration. Cool news.
Update: Check out this article by John Nichols on the court's ruling in The Nation Online.
Posted by chuck at September 4, 2003 11:12 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.wordherders.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.fpl/671