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To sign Media For Democracy's petition
--The Public Airwaves, Public Interest Coalition , an alliance of public interest groups, media activists and grassroots organizers, will announce on Tuesday, April 20 a broad-based campaign urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold the nation's commercial broadcasters to a more responsible standard of public service. The announcement will be made with FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps at a 1:00pm press conference during the National Association of Broadcasters annual gathering in Las Vegas.
The Coalition is taking this action as the television industry stands poised to receive another massive FCC giveaway — involving billions of dollars worth of publicly-owned digital broadcasting capacity. Before the FCC acts on behalf of broadcasters, the Coalition has called on the agency to clearly define its public interest obligation, in particular as it concerns civic and electoral programming.
The campaign was kicked off on April 7 when the Alliance for Better Campaigns, Benton Foundation, Common Cause, Center for Digital Democracy, Center for Creative Voices in Media, Institute for Public Representation of Georgetown University Law Center, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. asked the FCC to move quickly to establish a clear and strong public interest obligation for the nation's commercial broadcasters.
The Coalition's proposal asks the regulatory agency to help ensure among other items that licensed broadcasters air:
a minimum three hours per week of civic or electoral affairs programming on their most-watched primary channel; and
independently produced programming for at least 25 percent of the primary channel's prime time schedule.
According to the proposal, "One core component of these public interest requirements is that broadcasters provide opportunities for citizens to become informed about — and involved in — local civic affairs and elections."
The FCC proposal is supported by a nationwide petition drive launched on April 12 by grassroots organizations including the Alliance for Better Campaigns, Common Cause, Free Press, Media for Democracy, MediaChannel.org, MoveOn.org and TrueMajority.org. On April 20, the Coalition will deliver thousands of signed petitions to FCC Chairman Michael Powell during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. The petition calls upon the FCC "to define minimum standards for broadcasters to fulfill their public interest obligation through coverage of elections and civic affairs."
Giving Back to Viewers
This coordinated initiative comes as the television industry fundamentally changes the way it transmits content — from an analog to a digital signal that can carry multiple interactive channels — six or more — over a frequency that now only accommodates one. This new technology, called multicasting, makes it possible for broadcast license holders to air more diverse and local content.
TV station owners expect to reap massive profits from advertising, pay-per-view programming and televised home-shopping services on the new digital channels. They have proven reluctant, however, to air programming that encourages public participation in America's democratic process.
"Multicasting over public airwaves is worth tens of billions of dollars to Big Media companies, and they're getting it for free courtesy of the American taxpayer," said Meredith McGehee, executive director of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. "The FCC with the complicity of Congress has left broadcasters free to define for themselves the meaning of public interest obligation. As a result the current obligations are meaningless. It's time the FCC steps in to provide clearer guidance to the industry."
"Without increased public and FCC pressure, few of the new digital broadcasters will opt to include programming that serves the public interest," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "Broadcasters are expected to reap $1.2 billion in campaign ad revenues this election cycle alone. It's time they gave something back to the public interest."
The Next Front in the Media Reform Movement
The Public Airwaves, Public Interest Coalition will continue to press the FCC for meaningful policies to support the public's interests — despite ongoing attempts by the powerful media lobby to block any efforts to define broadcasters' obligation to their viewers. These lobbyists, working on behalf of large commercial media conglomerates, continue to push for industry deregulation that will open the way for further concentration of local media outlets in the hands of fewer corporations. In 2003, a popular outcry against FCC plans to allow more concentrated media ownership in local markets mobilized nearly 3 million Americans opposed to the further dismantling of ownership regulations. Capitol Hill observers say discussion of this issue among congressional constituents was second only to concerns about the War in Iraq.
"Ensuring that big media serve the public interest is the new front in the media reform movement," Timothy Karr, executive director of MediaChannel.org and Media for Democracy said. "A clearly defined public interest obligation will help ensure diverse, original and local programming that reaches formerly underserved audiences and encourages citizen participation in civic affairs and the democratic process."
In the months ahead, media activists and grassroots organizations aligned with the Coalition will reach out to television stations in all 50 states to brief them on the FCC proposal and engage station managers in a constructive discussion of best standards for local broadcasters.
"Media moguls want the FCC to approve multicasting before the public realizes just how much more money they're going to make off the publicly-owned airwaves," said Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause. "We need to remind them that they owe us something in return."
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