Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Right Turn on the Air
The state of our public airwaves is beginning to get more attention, some of it from the targets of attacks on its liberty to operate free of government interference. Bill Moyers spoke out yesterday in St. Louis about the CPB chairman Kenneth Tomlinson’s secret snooping, badmouthing, and political labeling of his “NOW with Bill Moyers” guests and their political inclinations:
“The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party gets," he explained. "That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."
Meanwhile, big media consolidation is back in the FCC’s future if the new chair on that board is one of its boosters. Robert McChesney, John Nichols, and Ben Scott, writing for the Nation Magazine, noted that the frontrunner to succeed Michael Powell is a longtime shill for even bigger media, if not exactly a political or policy powerhouse:
“…something of a bandwagon for the appointment of Becky Klein--a former head of the Texas Public Utility Commission--with whom the industry has already developed a cozy relationship. When Klein challenged Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett last year, the Austin Chronicle described her as "a horrible candidate" who appeared to be less serious about winning a House seat than "auditioning for her next GOP patronage job." Despite that fact, Klein collected more than $800,000 in campaign contributions, with a substantial portion coming from telecommunications and energy companies--more, in fact, from those industries than any other first-time GOP candidate in the country. Klein earned just 31 percent of the vote, but as Gene Kimmelman, a senior director of Consumers Union, explained, "Clearly, the companies are investing in the future."
Those of us who care about maintaining an independent media need to keep track of the multi-pronged assault that is underway against smaller and more independent voices on the public airways. If not, we might wake up too late, only to find that the only voices heard by most Americans on free media are bankrolled by the far right or by corporate multinationals.
“The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party gets," he explained. "That's because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned by them as liberal is to tell the truth."
Meanwhile, big media consolidation is back in the FCC’s future if the new chair on that board is one of its boosters. Robert McChesney, John Nichols, and Ben Scott, writing for the Nation Magazine, noted that the frontrunner to succeed Michael Powell is a longtime shill for even bigger media, if not exactly a political or policy powerhouse:
“…something of a bandwagon for the appointment of Becky Klein--a former head of the Texas Public Utility Commission--with whom the industry has already developed a cozy relationship. When Klein challenged Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett last year, the Austin Chronicle described her as "a horrible candidate" who appeared to be less serious about winning a House seat than "auditioning for her next GOP patronage job." Despite that fact, Klein collected more than $800,000 in campaign contributions, with a substantial portion coming from telecommunications and energy companies--more, in fact, from those industries than any other first-time GOP candidate in the country. Klein earned just 31 percent of the vote, but as Gene Kimmelman, a senior director of Consumers Union, explained, "Clearly, the companies are investing in the future."
Those of us who care about maintaining an independent media need to keep track of the multi-pronged assault that is underway against smaller and more independent voices on the public airways. If not, we might wake up too late, only to find that the only voices heard by most Americans on free media are bankrolled by the far right or by corporate multinationals.
