Big Media Can Serve, Not Kill Public-Interest Needs

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Richard T. Kaplar and Patrick D. Maines, The Media Institute]
[Commentary] Is consolidation (or "concentration") really bad, or merely a rational and necessary development in today's transformed media environment? In an economy where virtually every major industry has seen a trend toward fewer but larger companies, it is hard to fathom why the media industry should be any different. Might not consolidation actually be helpful in creating a stronger (and, paradoxically, more diverse) industry that could ultimately serve the public better? If Congress and the FCC are truly concerned about the media they regulate, they must be concerned first and foremost with the economic viability and competitive strength of those media. Policymakers who fail to grasp this essential truth, and who continue to impose burdensome and even ruinous regulations on this one sector of the communications industry, may be remembered for having turned our old media into relics of a bygone era.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6306803?display=Opinion&refer...
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