Despite my ranting here, I don't often insert myself into the political process. However, the recent FCC rules change allowing greater concentration of media outlets has put a bug up my butt. So, when I got a message from MoveOn.org about writing my congressmen, I bit. (Of course, I did the same thing when they were soliciting comment for the FCC, which didn't do a damn bit of good...) Anyway, here's the text of my message:
Dear Senator/Representative,I urge you to take swift action to overturn the FCC decisions that loosen the media ownership rules.
At the risk of sounding melodramatic, the June 2nd vote to allow media outlets to become more concentrated in the hands of a few big corporations frankly scares the hell out of me.
Let me explain. As a high school student, I had the opportunity to visit the Soviet Union. At one of the hotel rooms I stayed in, there was a radio with a single knob on it for volume. You were stuck with whatever single station was programmed into that radio. Of course, the Soviet Union was never known for its freedom of expression.
As bad as that may have been, I submit to you that the recent FCC rules changes are even worse. By allowing a small group of large corporations to swallow up media outlets, this rules change will maintain the illusion of diversity while in fact stifling it. This may be good for fattening corporate pockets, but it does NOTHING to support the public interest.
At least with that one-channel radio I was under no illlusion what was going on.
Again, I urge you to take swift action to overturn the FCC decisions that loosen media ownership rules.
Sincerely,
Jason Orrill
Maybe not the most cohesive argument ever, and it doesn't address the huge range of problems with the rules change, but hey, I'm trying to make a living here & I doubt anyone's going to read it who matters, anyway. The best I'm hoping for is to be a tally mark in someone's spreadsheet.
Posted by Jason at June 4, 2003 11:46 AM