How Corporate Media Has Destroyed Fair and Balanced News, Real Music, And Film And TV Production Which Is Not Corporate Spawned

An outstanding look at how the Fairness Doctrine was overthrown by a Ronald Reagan veto which empowered the Conservative Corporatization of Media to own hundreds of television and radio stations.

Part 1 of 4

You will learn that in certain areas of this country, right after Clear Channel Radio went on its massive acquisition binge during the mid and late 90s, there were entire big cities where not one single opposing political view was ever heard on radio and tv. It used to be corporate behemoths could not own more than six media outlets in any broadcast market. When Reagan overturned the Fairness Doctrine by veto, he allowed companies (read supporters) to waltz in and buy every media outlet in a city if they so wished.

Not only this, but during the George W. Bush administration, the 3 Republican FCC Commisoners sitting voted to allow more media control, i.e., they pushed through a ruling which 3 million American citizens opposed in written mailings to the FCC, whereby one giant conglomerate could own all the newspapers, radio stations and tv stations in any town in America. If you wonder why Fox News and Clear Channel Radio came to be so powerful in big swaths of the country, watch this eye opening piece (cut into four parts of about 15 minutes each) which just aired, ironically, on Russia Today.

If you wonder why Fox News and Clear Channel Radio came to be so powerful in big swaths of the country, watch this eye opening piece (cut into four parts of about 15 minutes each) from Russia Today. If you wonder why great investigative journalism of the lead up to the Iraq War took a back seat to sensationalist news coverage of say dead celebrities, watch this documentary.

Part 2 of 4

Media consolidation means fewer real reporters and more talking heads blathering from their already solidified points of view. Media should bring clarity to an issue. However, big media has brought confusion and mis-information to the biggest issues of the 21st Century (the reasons for attacking Iraq, the Housing Bubble, the Housing Crash, etc.) because media is no longer focused on getting the story right, but is more concerned with bigger profits.

As Amy Goodman points out when she comments about only 3 out of 400 interviews before the Iraq War were with anti-war people while half the country was against the invasion, the "mainstream" media is now an "extreme" media.

This investigative piece also looks at other issues such the outing of Valerie Plame and how media was complicit in that story just so it could continue to have the almighty "access" to the White House which all media outlets seek. We also learn how military "commentators" on all the networks were paid shills who spouted the Pentagon line. We also learn that many of these ex-military commentators had/have financial stakes in companies which benefited from the invasion of Iraq.

There's also a look at how 8 radio stations owned by Clear Channel did not broadcast over the Emergency Broadcast System (which is part of their charter for licensing) to help residents during the biggest chemical spill ever in the USA, because Clear Channel's stations were not manned by live human beings in the town where their radio stations were heard by residents affected by the spill (Minot, ND). This is a story which hits home with me because the same thing happened to Florida Keys residents in the late 90s when Hurricane Georges took out all Clear Channel stations from airing emergency information. (As it was, a local mom and pop station from Big Pine Key stayed on the air all night (even with knee deep water entering their studios) by using a generator bought from a local hardware store. That station went on to win an Edward G. Murrow award for excellence in broadcasting for their work in helping Florida Keys residents stay in touch during and after the hurricane. The Clear Channel stations came back on the air 3 days later and to add insult to injury, would not give advertisers a break on their rates for ads which never aired).

Lastly, this report investigates the FCC's lack of response to petition to deny license by ordinary citizens such as you and me. After all, bandwidth is owned by we the people. We own the airwaves. It's up to us take back the media, even with a recalcitrant FCC which does the heavy lifting for the huge media conglomerates.

Watch this report in four parts. Afterwards, get involved in taking the media back from the corporations which do not give fair access to all points of view.