Communications-Related Headlines for June 3, 2003

A service of the Benton Foundation (http://www.benton.org)
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC Ruling to Face Possible Legislative, Court Challenges
FCC Decision Deals a Blow to Diversity and Democracy
FCC, Big Media Make Scary Bedfellows
Media Giants, Publishers Hail FCC Vote
Enter the Matrix: The FCC's New Rules

DIGITAL DIVIDE
UN Seeks to Bridge the Digital Divide
Forum: Bridging the Global Digital Divide
Partnership Built On the Web

QUOTABLES
Beltway Comments on Media Ownership Decision

MEDIA OWNERSHIP

FCC RULING TO FACE POSSIBLE LEGISLATIVE, COURT CHALLENGES
Yesterday's FCC vote to relax media ownership rules has drawn a swift
response from Beltway critics, many of whom expect to see legislative and
judicial responses very soon. "As more and more Americans find out about the
FCC's order and rule changes, they are going to push for Congress to
overturn them," said Gene Kimmelman, public policy director for Consumers
Union. US senators from both sides of the aisle criticized the FCC move.
"There clearly now is going to be an orgy of mergers and acquisitions," said
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) of the Senate Commerce Committee, who called the
FCC's decision "dumb and dangerous." Commerce Committee ranking Democrat
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and former Republican Senate leader Trent Lott (R-MS)
joined Dorgan in criticizing the ruling, threatening congressional action to
block it. However, committee chairman John McCain (R-AZ) stated on Sunday
that he opposed legislative involvement in the matter.
SOURCE: Seattle Times; AUTHOR: David Ho, Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APWires/business/D7RE3O580.html

FCC DECISION DEALS A BLOW TO DIVERSITY AND DEMOCRACY
[Commentary] Joining the cacophony of dissenting voices regarding the FCC's
media ownership ruling yesterday, the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff
Chester notes that at least one positive may have come from an otherwise
dismal day for democracy. "With his high-handed attitude, neither brooking
dissent nor even listening to the opposition, [FCC Chairman] Michael Powell
may have done more for freedom of the press than anyone since Tom Paine,"
observed Chester, suggesting that Powell may have "unwittingly galvanized
legions of opposition forces."
SOURCE: Center for Digital Democracy; AUTHOR: Jeff Chester
http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/june2.html

FCC, BIG MEDIA MAKE SCARY BEDFELLOWS
[Commentary] In the opinion of Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias,
America gets the democracy it pays for. Case in point: the FCC decision to
relax media ownership rules. Citing the Center for Public Integrity,
Zerbisias says that over the past eight years FCC staffers have accepted
some 2,500 trips costing nearly $2.8 million to first-class destinations
such as Paris, Hong Kong and Rio. All of these trips were paid for by the
very media industries that the FCC is supposed to regulate, she writes. The
Center also documented some 70 closed-door sessions the broadcasters took
part in at the FCC. In addition to political contributions, Zerbisias argues
that the "Top Five" media owners "greased palms" by donating $24.6 million
in the past two years to the campaigns of Congress members who oversee the
FCC. The FCC decision came despite a record 520,000 comments from citizens,
activists and consumer groups, most of them against the changes. Zerbisias
cites the stifling of voices for peace during Operation Iraqi Freedom and
the dearth of television reporting on the FCC proposed changes as evidence
of the abysmal American mainstream media. Zerbisias fears that Canadian
media, already more consolidated than US media, will demand similar
deregulation for competitive reasons.
SOURCE: Toronto Star; AUTHOR: Antonio Zerbisias
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/A...
le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1052251719124&call_pageid=968867495754&col=9694831916
30
(URL may require pasting together if broken)

MEDIA GIANTS, PUBLISHERS HAIL FCC VOTE
While opponents of the new FCC rules raise concerns about the stifling of
competition and independent voices, the stock market yesterday responded
with gains for media stocks, including Viacom, Fox and Hearst-Argyle
Television. Officials from media giants such as Disney and News Corp., as
well as large newspaper publishers such as Tribune Co. and Knight-Ridder
Inc. supported the FCC decision. Radio companies are not as pleased, though,
as radio markets were redefined to prevent market domination. "The real
issue is that the FCC has basically used a sledgehammer when they should've
used a scalpel to correct the rule," said Andrew Levin, senior vice
president of government affairs for the nation's largest radio operator,
Clear Channel Communications Inc. Some industry watchers foresee a
grassroots reaction among the public. "Now the real question is... how can
we move things in the opposite direction as soon as possible?," said Mark
Crispin Miller, executive director of the Project on Media Ownership at New
York University. "We have to restore competitiveness, which will require
antitrust measures."
SOURCE: Reuters; AUTHOR: Reshma Kapadia
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030602/media_nm/medi...
c_reaction_dc_6

ENTER THE MATRIX: THE FCC'S NEW RULES
Howard Finberg, director of e-learning at the Poynter Institute, has
compiled a matrix explaining yesterday's FCC media ownership ruling.
Finberg's matrix compares many of the old regulations with the new
regulations that were just approved by the FCC.
SOURCE: Poynter Institute; AUTHOR: Howard Finberg
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=56&aid=36005

DIGITAL DIVIDE

UN SEEKS TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
[Commentary] Despite euphoric claims of politicians to the contrary, the gap
between the information haves and have-nots is only widening, writes E.D.
Mathew, a former international development aid worker. Industrialized
countries, with about 15 percent of the world's population, make up nearly
90 percent of all Internet users. There are fewer than two million Internet
users on the continent of Africa, compared with more than 12 million in
Britain. "The remarkable information technology advances have created vast
new opportunities, yet they have also generated 'new divides' between rich
and poor," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said last week at a meeting of
information and broadcasting ministers in Bangkok. The widening digital
divide has led the UN to call the first-ever World Summit on the Information
Society this December, bringing together political, private sector, civil
society and media leaders to spread the benefits of the digital revolution
and promote "inclusive digitalization."
[SOURCE: Daily Nation on the Web; AUTHOR: E.D. Mathew]
http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/Today/Comment/Comment0306200...
tml

FORUM: BRIDGING THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE
The Business Council of the United Nations and 3Com are hosting "The Net
World Order: Bridging the Global Digital Divide" June 18-19 in New York
City. Held in conjunction with the CeBIT America conference, the forum will
focus on the role of business in bridging the digital divide
internationally, especially in developing nations. The current list of
speakers includes UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Cisco Systems CEO John
Chambers, MIT Media Lab director Walter Bender, Infosys Technologies
chairman Narayana Murthy and various IT ministers from around the world.
SOURCE: Business Council of the United Nations
http://www.cebit-america.com/1909

PARTNERSHIP BUILT ON THE WEB
Efforts to bring Nigeria into the global economy have been bolstered by a
new partnership. The Global Trade and Investment Management network, a
collaborative effort led by the US Embassy in Nigeria and several
private-sector partners, is a Web-based service designed to "convert an
aspiring entrepreneur into a global business person, whether doing business
across the street or across the ocean." Nigerian entrepreneurs can use the
Web portal to engage in trade and learn global investment skills. Outgoing
ambassador and commercial counselor Miguel Pardo de Zela said that under
Africa's increasingly liberalized trade barriers, "Nigerian entrepreneurs
need to learn -- better still, master -- a set of managerial skills that
will enable them to stand up to the global competition, be it in their own
local markets or those existing thousands of miles away." The GTIM project
is set to open on Wednesday.
SOURCE: AllAfrica.com; AUTHOR: Agha Ibiam, This Day
http://allafrica.com/stories/200306020474.html

QUOTABLES:
BELTWAY COMMENTS ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP DECISION

"This is the fastest, most complete cave-in to corporate interests I've ever
seen by what is supposed to be a federal regulatory agency. This decision
advances big corporate interests, and does so at the expense of the public
interest. It is a decision that chooses concentration over competition." -
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=204445

"I want to emphasize that there is not a partisan position here... A lot of
Republicans -- in fact, probably most of the Republicans in the Congress,
would not agree with this [FCC] decision." - Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)
http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~11268~1432144,00.html

"We as a society are best served by a diverse marketplace of ideas and
viewpoints. This deregulation serves only to accommodate the growth of media
giants, and the unavoidable result will be a further stifling of democratic
discourse." - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
http://boxer.senate.gov/newsroom/200306/20030602_cons.html

"The FCC has spent considerable resources examining these issues, and the
rules they adopted today appear to retain important limitations on media
ownership. These are complex decisions, however, and it is difficult to know
exactly where to set these limits.... Congress must remain vigilant to
guarantee the important values of competition, diversity and localism within
our nation's media markets." - Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsCenter.ViewPressReleas...
ntent_id=1073

"This is such a disastrous proceeding and finding and rule by the
commission itself this morning that I'm convinced that we've got to weigh-in
in the Congress... The people, they want to be heard. This concentration is
absolutely in opposition to the interests of the public itself. And there's
no ground for it. There's no reason for it other than greed." - Sen. Ernest
Hollings (D-SC)
http://hollings.senate.gov/~hollings/press/2003602A13.html

"Upon close examination, the rules adopted yesterday by the Federal
Communications Commission can only be seen as a radical deregulation of the
media industry in America. The number of markets in which mergers would be
allowed by the rules is increased dramatically; media mergers will now be
permitted in over 150 markets across the country representing 98 percent of
the American population. The size of the dominant media firms will increase
dramatically and the public interest review of mergers is eliminated
entirely. The result is certain to be an increase in concentration of local
markets and consolidation of the media in national chains. Democratic debate
in American will be weakened. Consumers will suffer from less competition.
Citizens will suffer from less diversity. Communities will suffer from less
local focus in their news and public affairs programming." - Dr. Mark
Cooper,
Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America
http://www.consumerfed.org/FCC_Rule.pdf

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