My family believes it is a privilege to operate newspapers and practice journalism in an American democracy. For us, the ultimate community service is independent local journalism. We don't ever use the word "ownership" in our family lexicon, but rather refer to "stewardship." Stewardship means that we will practice our independent journalism for the benefit of all the citizens in the communities we serve. It is because of this philosophy I had no choice but to conclude the recent and ongoing FCC effort to allow much greater media consolidation is not only bad policy, it is a risk to our democracy! To survive, our nation must have a wide variety of independent newspaper and media owners. There must be many voices and broad diversity by size, geography and ideology.
Media Control in the Hands of a Few
Most of America's news, information and entertainment is now controlled by a handful of large conglomerates. The number of corporations that control a majority of U.S. media – and this includes newspapers, magazines, t.v. and radio stations, books, music, movies, videos, wire service and photo agencies – is now only five. These companies have virtually eliminated real t.v. and radio news. They have dumbed down our entertainment to the lowest common denominator, and they have stifled creativity. They have massively disinvested in our country's newspapers. And, they have put a chill on coverage of anything that's not in their business interest.
Newspapers Lose Their Independence
In newspapers today, fewer than 20% of America's newspapers remain independent — only about 250 of us. Absentee conglomerate owners now control most of the metropolitan newspapers in the United States. The large chains control 70% of our nation's daily circulation and 73% of our Sunday circulation. FCC proposals to allow cross ownership of television and newspapers in the same market would most certainly worsen an already alarming increase in corporate ownership of newspapers.
Radio Consolidation
Certainly, what has happened to radio since deregulation of ownership occurred is very alarming. Clear Channel – the giant Texas-based entertainment company – now controls radio stations listened to by one-third of Americans – a radio audience of more than 100 million people! Once an important source of local news coverage, radio has all but discontinued any coverage of local communities.
Television Consolidation
Television concentration continues to grow and local ownership continues to disappear. We've moved past the era when stations were buying additional stations. We are now in the era where larger chains are now gobbling up smaller chains. Incredible as it seems, the rules set by the Federal Communications Commission actually allow one entity to control up to 39% of America's television sets. A perfect example of the problems caused by such consolidated control was brought to the forefront in the Sinclair Broadcasting flap involving the pro-Bush, anti-Kerry program just before the presidential election. Unfortunately, much of the controversy focused on the conservative political bent of Sinclair. Sinclair's politics were not the important public policy issue — the issue is excessive control. Sinclair controls 61 television stations reaching 25% of America's viewers. That's too much control for any one entity, irrespective of their political or economic motives.
Citizens Fight Back
Bleak as this sounds, there is hope. Thanks to a national grassroots citizen effort, greatly aided by the Internet, the public has increasingly become aware of the problems of media concentration. They are increasingly letting the FCC and Congress know about their concern. When the FCC tried to overturn our few remaining protections a year and a-half ago, the FCC and Congress received about two million responses from the public – 99.9% opposing further consolidation and calling for less. Senator John McCain, who chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, which has FCC oversight, characterized this as the greatest non-orchestrated outpouring of citizen response on a single issue he has seen.
Congress Responds
In response to the grassroots efforts, and fueled by the high profile abuses and transgressions of these conglomerates, Congress is responding. Several committees in the House and Senate are interested in holding hearings in the upcoming session. These include the Senate Commerce Committee, the Senate Anti-trust Sub-committee and the House Judiciary Committee. Next year Congress is likely to do a review of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This will be a long, complicated and difficult process but an opportunity during which Americans must let Congress know that they expect a stop to the media concentration trend.
In addressing the danger of losing the remaining FCC rules, which are the public's last line of defense, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine wrote "(rules repeal will) …deprive the public access to a diversity of choices, limit our freedom of expression and curtail the public discourse at its core. (The FCC attempts to repeal the rules)…took decisive aim at the very tenets of freedom and democracy our nation is built on."
Democracy Best Served By Diverse Ownership
If we had broad, diverse and limited media ownership, we would have diverse content, diverse views and diverse opinions – all competing for our attention. And importantly, content would again be tied to our local communities, thus creating the connections necessary for civic engagement — precisely what's required for a democracy to survive and flourish. This is your democracy. It is at risk. I urge you to stay informed and let your elected representatives know how important this is to you.
Frank Blethen is the fourth generation family Publisher of The Seattle Times, one of the largest and last locally owned daily metropolitan newspapers in the U.S.
