Activism Change

Oh, look: they're going to blow it up themselves to keep it out of 'enemy' hands…

Question:

Now even voices on the *left* are saying we should consider launching PBS. Read what David Shaw of the LA Times says… http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/5/31/161317.shtml Freep

Response:

Now even voices on the *left* are saying we should consider launching PBS. Read what David Shaw of the LA Times says… http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/5/31/161317.shtml

It does seem that NewsMax did get it right. Imagine that…:0) http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-ca-shaw29may29,1,5931655.stor… See ya, John

Response:

Back to the beginning: The airwaves belong to the people. Broadcast television stations don’t pay to use the airwaves. Unlike, say, your cell phone company, they get to use the airwaves for free. In exchange, they are required, by law, to serve the public interest. At the least, that means being nonpartisan. They are failing.  In 1996, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) literally gave away over $70 billion worth of digital broadcasting licenses to the major television networks for free. I said for FREE Digital Larceny  Our main reason for bringing it up now, though, is that it has much to do with campaign finance reform and with how our democracy has been undermined by powerful special interests.  If you think Big Oil and Big Tobacco are major players in the special interest game, they’re nothing compared to the giant media conglomerates that shield us from the information we need to function as citizens.  So let’s go back to ‘96 to see what happened and how we got into this mess we’re in. Technically, television and radio airwaves belong to The People. That’s why Congress gets to decide who can use them and for what purposes.  When you change channels on your TV or spin the knob on your radio, you’re switching through frequencies of an electronic spectrum that has been divided up and licensed out to broadcasters by Congress and the FCC. If you wanted to start your own radio station, you’d have to get a license from the government because the airwaves, or frequencies, you’d be using really belong to the public.  Typically, licenses are sold at auction so that the public (i.e., the government) gets something in exchange for the use of those frequencies.  Often, licenses come with restrictions and expectations.  The government can, for example, sell you a commercial broadcasting license on the condition that you devote a certain amount of air time, say, to public service announcements or educational programming. But in 1996, something went terribly wrong.  The Telecommunications Act "reformed" the telecommunications industry in remarkable and horrifying ways.  First, it speeded deregulation of the industry, meaning that corporations that were once prohibited from owning one another could merge.  If you’re not already familiar with anti-trust (anti-monopoly) laws, what this means is that corporations that used to compete against one another could suddenly join hands in brotherly collusion.  The motto of the merger is "If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em."  And buy ‘em they did!  By the year 2000, just four years later, the big media conglomerates had devoured all the smaller broadcasters and the total number dropped to six.  As a result, the vast majority of our available news is now funneled through that handful of corporate titans.  And as you well know, they are far more interested in keeping us distracted and amused with trivia about the likes of O.J. Simpson, Elian Gonzalez, Jon Benet Ramsey, and Gary Condit than they are in keeping us informed on, well, anything of relevance. Another thing the Telecommunications Act did was give away the digital broadcast spectrum, the set of frequencies that was supposed to be put to use in the distribution of high-definition television, or HDTV.  Had this spectrum been auctioned as usual, those licenses would have brought upwards of $70 billion into the U.S. Treasury.  But instead, We The People got bupkis.  Zero, zip, zilch, nada.  What’s more, those licenses could have been allocated to smaller broadcasters who might have competed with the big boys, but instead, they went straight to the corporate giants who already enjoyed a stranglehold on all broadcast media. Both President Clinton and Al Gore had a hand in this shameful deal. Both men have long been quiet but stalwart supporters of deregulation and media concentration.  When it looked like it might be prudent to at least appear to be concerned that the "Big Spectrum Giveaway" might warrant closer inspection, Clinton assigned Gore to head up a commission to negotiate something from the broadcasters in exchange for those free licenses and permission to monopolize.  The Gore Commission could have demanded many things from the broadcasters, ranging from more educational programming to less advertising targeted at kids.  But instead, it asked timidly for only one concession:  it asked broadcasters to provide small slots of free air time for candidates campaigning for federal offices.  The broadcasters said no, and that was the end of it. Hard to believe?  Not if you consider that the Gore Commission wasn’t assembled until after the Telecommunications Act had already been passed.  The broadcasters had their free licenses in hand, so there was no need for them to negotiate.  What’s surprising is that they bothered to show up for the meetings at all. How could this happen, you ask?  Well first (as you might suspect), the broadcasting industry poured money into political coffers.   In the 1995-’96 election cycle, the TV, movie, and music industries "donated" over $7 million, and split it almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats.  If you include other related media industries, such as publishing, telephone, and telecom, the total reaches nearly $24 million.  The four major TV networks contributed 4 million bucks all by themselves. Next, the lobbying arm of the broadcasting industry, the National Association of Broadcasters, launched a telephone and hand-shaking blitz on key legislators in Washington like Bob Dole, Trent Lott, and George Mitchell.  Since so few activists (or anybody else, for that matter) even knew about the planned giveaway, the NB lobbyists went virtually uncontested. Finally, the media conglomerates used a unique advantage unavailable to any other industry or interest group in the world–the power to manipulate the news or to withhold it all together.  They simply didn’t cover the story.  Their theft of the airwaves occurred in broad daylight, yet hardly anyone saw it.   We were busy watching other shows.  During the 16-month deliberation in Congress, not one of the major networks breathed a word.  And thus was democracy evaded. Here’s what this means to you. One element of campaign finance reform must be that the networks grant free air time to candidates who qualify to run for federal offices. (One of the reasons our elections are so expensive is that TV air time is so expensive.)  When you make this demand of your Senators and Representatives, some of them my play stupid or impotent or both.  They may say, "Hey, we can’t force broadcasters to give away air time any more than we can force grocery stores to give away food."  And to that you have our permission to reply: "Hogwash!  Those airwaves belong to the American people.  Congress gave them away without our permission, and Congress has the power to revoke those licenses any time it wants to.  I expect you, as my elected representative, to demand that any network that refuses to grant free air time to qualified candidates will lose its license." (As always, we thank the Center for Responsive Politics for the data on campaign contributions.)

Response:

i say deep six TV or give EVERYONE Transmitter and receivers. At the very least make the big boys pay dearly for their wave.

Response:

i say deep six TV or give EVERYONE Transmitter and receivers. At the very least make the big boys pay dearly for their wave.

Go get licenced and broadcast! :0) See ya, John

Response:

easier said than done.http://groups.msn.com/GospelRadio/howtogetalicense.msnw Expansion of the AM or FM radio bands is unlikely to occur in the near future. The FM band is constrained from expanding above 107.9 MHz by the presence of aeronautical operations on 108 MHz to 136 MHz, and is also prevented from expanding below 88.1 MHz by Channel 6 television operations on 82.0 through 88.0 MHz. The AM band was recently expanded from 1600 to 1700 kHz after years of international negotiations, however those frequencies are reserved for existing stations which were causing significant interference in the lower part of the band.

Response:

Filed under: Lobbying

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