From Robert McChesney and Jeff Chester: (sorry for cross-postings)
Hope all is well. Bob McChesney and I have written the following letter to
be sent to members of the FCC and to the members of the relevant committees
that deal with the FCC and media ownership in Congress. As you may know the
FCC is presently formally reviewing a handful of important media ownership
rules, with the possibility that it may relax or even eliminate them. By all
accounts the consequences of eliminating these ownership rules will be a
wave of media consolidation at the national and local levels. For as much
detail as you want on the issue, go to www.democraticmedia.org or
www.mediareform.net and follow the necessary links.
Those in favor of eliminating the ownership rules at the FCC are pushing for
the establishing of a diversity index, a quantitative measure that will set
a standard to determine just how much concentrated ownership is permissible.
I attach an article to the end of this email that explains the thinking
behind the diversity index. The core problem with the diversity index is
that is has been done entirely in secret, yet it is apparently going to be
used as the justification for a radical change in our rules regulating media
ownership. Considering that the FCC has no real research staff to speak of,
that even Congress not to mention has been kept in the dark on this
diversity index, and that the leading scholars in the field have not been
consulted at all by the FCC, we think Congress needs to make the FCC open up
the process and subject it to the light of public and scholarly examination,
study and debate.
If you agree, please sign the letter. If you could pass on to others, we
would appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Bob McChesney and Jeff Chester

Dear Mr. Chairman:
(we would send to other Commissioners and Chair/ranking of Commerce
Committees).
The FCC will soon make a critical decision on media ownership policy that
could affect the future course of our democracy. At stake, as you know, are
the rules and policies governing U.S. media ownership of the nation's radio
and television broadcasters, TV networks, and newspapers. You and your
colleagues are well aware of the important role these media outlets play in
providing the public with a diverse array of local and national information
and analysis.
According to reports, the Commission is developing a "diversity index" that
will serve as a form of universal measurement on media ownership. Such a
measure, we understand, will be used to analyze individual media markets in
order to determine whether cross-ownership limits should be eliminated,
modified, or maintained. Press reports also suggest that some of the
specific rules under review may be subject to new policies as well.
We have grave doubts that any single measure can effectively analyze the
complexities of the media marketplace, in terms of its impact on journalism,
citizen access to information, and competition. Such quantitative-let alone
qualitative-methodological measures attempting to serve as holistic
approaches are likely to be very imprecise.
As leading scholars in the field of social science and mass communications,
we urge you to release to the public any proposed such measures in advance
of their enactment. There must be serious scholarly and public debate about
the efficacy of any proposed new measure on media ownership. Indeed, we look
forward to examining and commenting on any proposal, so that the scholarly
community can help make the most informed Commission decision possible on
this important issue.
We are sure you, as we, believe that informed debate and discourse on the
analytical underpinnings of what the FCC may propose can only further your
goal of developing an approach to media policy regulation that is supported
by sound scholarship.
Sincerely,
Robert W. McChesney, Professor, Institute of Communications Research,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
*******

FCC's Powell defends index idea on media ownership
Reuters, 04.08.03, 4:18 PM ET
By Jeremy Pelofsky
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael
Powell Tuesday defended the idea of a market index to measure concentration
in a media market as the agency formulates new ownership regulations.
Powell, a Republican, said he was leaning towards such a diversity index to
ensure multiple television, radio and newspapers voices in a market as
opposed to taking each case individually if and when companies want to
acquire new properties.
FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin, a fellow Republican who has bucked Powell
before on telecommunications issues, Monday told Reuters he preferred simple
rules without complicated mathematical formulas when measuring voices in a
market.
"It really isn't that complicated, the idea at least," Powell said at the
National Association of Broadcasters annual convention.
"We are far from having decided whether to do something like that or if we
do do something like that what form it will actually take," he said. "But I
don't think that there should be a freak out about the possibility of both
using data and mathematical methods."
The agency is overhauling decades-old rules that restrict the media
industry, including one that bans common ownership of newspapers and either
a radio or television station in a single market.
Powell has said he saw no need for a complete ban on the newspaper and
broadcast ownership limit. Martin has advocated lifting the ban and said
that he worried about complicated mathematical formulas leading to
marketplace confusion.
Tribune Co. , which owns newspapers and television stations, has pushed to
scrap that restriction but some newspaper owners and consumer groups have
lobbied the FCC to keep the rules to preserve diversity of voices.
Also up for review, in part because a federal appeals court questioned the
justification the FCC has given for keeping the rules, are limits on a
company owning multiple radio and television stations in a single market.
FCC CONFIDENT OF MEETING JUNE DEADLINE
The head of the FCC's Media Bureau, Kenneth Ferree, said at a panel
discussion that the agency will make the self-imposed deadline of June 2 to
complete the new media ownership rules. "There will be no delay," he
confidently predicted.
Ferree also said he would give the FCC commissioners scenarios for what the
record would support on either keeping or easing the cap that prevents a
company from owning television stations that reach more than 35 percent of
the national audience.
Major broadcast networks NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., Viacom Inc.'s
CBS and News Corp.'s Fox have sought to lift that cap while smaller
broadcasters and the NAB have fought to keep the limit intact.
Separately, when asked about whether consolidation in the media industry was
leading to a degradation of the quality of programming, Powell said that he
believed it was because of programmers' fervor to beat the competition.
"I have a different view which I think it's actually the
hyper-competitiveness that is causing this," he said.
Powell also warned radio stations that their day may be numbered if they
willfully and repeatedly violate the law and regulations that limit the
broadcast of indecent material, a not-so-veiled threat to pull stations'
licenses.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, a critic of what he describes as the
declining quality of television and radio programming, urged the agency to
determine whether it was concentration or competition before voting on new
ownership limits.
"I do not look forward to voting without even having asked the questions and
tried to amass a record on it, yet that's what we're doing," he told
reporters.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service


Clemencia Rodriguez
Associate Professor
Department of Communication
University of Oklahoma
610 Elm Avenue
Norman OK 73019 USA
405 325 1570
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