FCC Relaxes Ownership Rules
The Federal Communications Commission has decided that ownership of newspapers and broadcasting outlets could do with further concentration. So, last week, the rules on ownership have been relaxed to accommodate greater "business synergies" and to allow fuller freedom of expression. One is unsure whether to laugh at the idea of people thinking there's diversity to be lost or to cry over the fact that money equals speech.
On the one hand, there is no liberal media in the US that the reactionary corporate owners don't allow. The very fact that the Dow Jones results are reported every night during the business portion of the news while labour organizing and politics are not given their own segment illustrates the bias. The slant of the reporter or editor is irrelevant when the very definition of what the news is lies in other hands. Does Fox have a different corporate agenda than NBC's owner GE? Hardly.
On the other hand, it is appalling that the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech, has been used to bolster the argument for this increased concentration of power. By denying the wealthy full use of their money in promoting their ideas, goes the argument, free speech is limited. Perhaps, but when money is equated with speech, the regime is telling the poor to shut up.
Congress may amend or over-turn the rules, and one hopes that it does so because these guidelines, regulations and rules should be set not by executive branch appointees but rather by duly elected legislators. However, the freedom of the press doesn't mean very much when one must pay for the ink and paper.