roundtable: Is the FCC needed in the New Information Age?
roundtable: Is the FCC needed in the New Information Age?
Is the FCC needed in the New Information Age?
W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Sat, 22 Apr 95 12:07:26 EDT
Message-Id: <9504221613.AA24855@a.cni.org>
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 95 12:07:26 EDT
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject: Is the FCC needed in the New Information Age?
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>
W. Curtiss Priest, Ph.D.
Director
Center for Information, Technology & Society
466 Pleasant Street
Melrose, MA 02176
Internet: bmslibmitvma.mit.edu, Voice: 617-662-4044, FAX: 617-662-6882
April 22, 1995
An Open Discussion
with Government, Foundations, Non-profits
and Grassroots Efforts
The Will to Create the Future:
Public Issue #9:
"Foreign Ownership of the Media and
Concentration of Media Power"
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CITS Observations (may be freely distributed):
W. Curtiss Priest
At the 2 day Emerson-Tufts Health Communications conference in Boston
one of the greatest concerns was the cross-ownership and the concentration
of media power (Boston, April 20-22, 1995).
We note, however, two very conflicting views about the need to police
the media and the channels of communication.
Peter Huber, right wing extremist, calls for the virtual elimination
of the FCC (see summary below from the BNA Daily Report).
Yet, simultaneously, we have the FCC enforcing our law concerning
foreign ownership of the media (see Boston Globe article below).
The question before us is this -- do we have to fully experience the
negative impacts of media concentration in a completely de-regulated
world, or are we intelligent enough to recognize this problem from our souls,
past experience, and our understanding of how power can corrupt?
This is the question that all legislators and policy people must ask
themselves before they dismantle all parts of the current structure.
There are the Citizen Kane's of the world and there has been the
over-concentration of power, time after time, where millions of
people have been victimized. They often become victimized, unwittingly,
and sometimes unknowingly, as pawns in the game of economic markets.
If this issue is important to you, you can make your opinion known
to the FCC --
You can email your support (or criticisms) to:
Chairman Reed Hundt rhundt@fcc.gov
Commissioner James Quello gclark@fcc.gov
Commissioner Andrew Barrett bettyfre@fcc.gov
Commissioner Susan Ness sness@fcc.gov
Commissioner Rachelle Chong rchong@fcc.gov
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EDUPAGE summary (may be freely distributed)
FCC UNDER FIRE
Peter Huber, senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute, took aim at the
Federal Communications Commission at a recent Heritage Foundation
get-together. Huber noted that as cable and telephone companies invade
each others' geographical and business territories, the FCC should, as a
matter of course, begin to wither away, "because I assume there's agreement
that competitive markets do not require constant monitoring." In five to
10 years, the FCC's work may be largely devoted to handling disputes over
electromagnetic spectrum, and under these circumstances, doing away with
the agency altogether becomes thinkable, says Huber. (BNA Daily Report for
Executives 4/14/95 A14)
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(Copyrighted material)
[IMAGE -- Rupert Murdock]
AP PHOTO
Critics say Rupert Murdock, a naturalized US citizen, has 76
percent of the voting shares of Fox, but he
doesn't have true equity control of the network.
FCC plan would force News Corp.
to reduce Fox Television stake
By Jeannine Aversa
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Media baron Rupert Murdoch
would get to keep his TV stations but would have to
reduce his Australian-based News Corp.'s investment in
Fox Television under a proposal being considered by
federal regulators.
Federal Communications Commission staff are rec-
ommending that News Corp. reduce its 99 percent inter-
est in the Fox Television operation to about 25 percent to
comply with federal laws limiting foreign ownership.
Such a move could cost the company millions of dol-
lars in capital gains taxes. It would also divert time and
resources away from building the network's audience
reach and programming.
The plan, first reported by the Los Angeles Times,
arises from a nearly two-year investigation into Fox's
ownership structure.
Critics say the plan is too lenient. The NAACP,
which challenged Fox's ownership structure in 1993,
wants the FCC to strip the company of its stations.
Fox holds eight TV station licenses with pending
agreements for at least two more, the company said. It
has affiliation agreements with 150 full-time stations.
If Congress does away with the statutory foreign
ownership limit, Murdoch will not have to restructure,
said an attorney involved in the Fox challenge, speaking
on condition of anonymity. Pending legislation in the
House and Senate would repeal the statute.
FCC spokeswoman Karen Watson declined to com-
ment on the staff recommendation, which is being re-
viewed by the FCC's five commissioners. A decision is
expected as early as next week.
At issue is whether Fox misled the agency a decade
ago about its ownership structure when seeking approval
to acquire six TV stations that became the foundation of
the network. The National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People says Fox masked its true corpo-
rate structure and that its foreign ownership denied op-
portunities to members of US minority groups. Fox has
denied this.
Under FCC rules, foreigners can't own mare than 25
percent of a station. Critics complained that while Mur-
doch, a naturalized US citizen, has 76 percent of the vo-
ting shares of Fox, he doesn't have true equity control of
the network. His Australian media company News Corp.,
which funded 99 percent of the network's start-up costs,
exercises true control over Fox, the NAACP said.
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