Too Much Frenzy and Not Enough Reporting and Reflection

TOO MUCH FRENZY AND NOT ENOUGH REFLECTION
[SOURCE: Digital Destiny, AUTHOR: Jeff Chester]
[Commentary] The New York Times business section column on why concerns over newspaper-broadcast ownership safeguards are “yesterday’s news,” illustrates how poorly informed too many media beat reporters are about their own industry. First, writer Richard Siklos fails to acknowledge that his own employer lobbied the FCC to sweep away such rules during the 2001-3 proceeding. In addition, Siklos, fails to address how the Internet, due to recent FCC decisions, may not be able to provide a meaningfully diverse array of information sources in the near future. Siklos also fails to meaningfully assess how the business models of so many publicly traded newspapers have helped bring the industry to its current crisis point. Diversity of media ownership is an serious topic. It’s about the First Amendment in the digital era; open broadband networks; local and national news operations with the resources and commitment to do a serious job covering private and public power; and ownership by people now largely left out -- namely everybody else other than white men. Cross-ownership is an important part of the “check and balances” the US has relied on to ensure the electronic media can serve the public interest. Granted, things are changing—but much is not in the short term. Whether we have a media system capable of doing the investigative reporting necessary so it can stand up to a future Administration wanting to go to war without real documentation is part of what’s at stake.
http://www.democraticmedia.org/jcblog/?p=127