Media for Everyone

MEDIA FOR EVERYONE
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Rep Diane Watson (D-CA)]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission has reinitiated its effort to further loosen media ownership rules. The last time the FCC tried this, in 2003, I, and nearly three million Americans, objected. We wanted to make sure that the media worked in the public interest, not to the benefit of a few. We wanted to make sure that the media showcased our nation’s rich tapestry of interests, ideas, and experiences. Americans need a media system that allows free and fair competition. But with our current highly concentrated media market we must ask, who is shut out of that market? Whose lives are not reflected in our news and entertainment? It’s very easy to identify one trend: growing media concentration has been harmful to minority owners and minority communities. Since Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, minority ownership of radio and television stations has declined. In 2000, only 175 minority broadcasters in radio owned 426 stations, about 4.0 percent of the nation’s 10,577 commercial AM and FM radio stations. In the television market, minorities owned only 23 full power commercial stations, representing 1.9 percent of the country’s 1,288 licensed stations. This is the lowest level recorded since tracking of the data began in 1990. We need ownership rules that will expand opportunities for minorities to enter the market, not limit them. Keeping minority owners out of the market is detrimental not only to them, but to the consumers they wish to serve. Without diverse ownership, many Americans will never see images and hear stories that reflect their own experiences. Invisibility -- or demeaning visibility -- can lead to stereotyping, bigotry, and racism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-diane-watson/media-for-everyone_b_26561.html