Your Action Needed To Stop Media Monopoly
by Tom Atlee
Founder And Co-Director of the Co-Intelligence Institute
When the mass media are distorted, the collective intelligence of society is distorted. This naturally degrades public awareness and public response.
Concentrating media power distorts these information flows. Special interests own or influence media so they can distort information to serve their interests. The more media any one interest owns, the more successfully it can distort the awareness and actions of the public.
Most of us distort information for various reasons, at one time or another. We use denial, lies and biases to comfort ourselves, to make sense of complexity, to shape people's responses to us and otherwise cope with life's challenges. While not always ideal, most such activities don't threaten anyone's survival. (If you're interested in radical honesty, check out www.radicalhonesty.com/ .)
However, when the mass media of the society are owned by already powerful powerholders whose biases and manipulation of information concentrate even more power in their hands and wreak havoc with democratic processes, it can be deadly to individuals, communities and whole nations. "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Absolute power will use any means to sustain itself.
We are about to see a vast acceleration of that devastating process in the United States -- unless we act.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is about to open the door to total concentration of media power. Information about the problem and its solution are given below.
If we build systems that can wisely monitor themselves, we won't have to fight so hard to keep what little scraps of democracy we have. But until we build those systems, those little scraps are all we have to build them with. Let us care for them passionately.
Coheartedly, Tom
Ref www.moveon.org/
On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission is planning on authorizing sweeping changes to the American news media. The rule changes could allow your local TV stations, newspaper, radio stations, and cable provider to all be owned by one company. NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox could have the same corporate parent. The resulting concentration of ownership could be deeply destructive to our democracy.
When we talk to Congresspeople about this issue, their response is usually the same: "We only hear from media lobbyists on this. It seems like my constituents aren't very concerned with this issue." A few thousand emails could permanently change that perception. Please join us in asking Congress and the FCC to fight media deregulation.
You can easily write to your Representative or Senators by going to www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/
NOW..... IF YOU WANT TO USE YOUR VOICE EVEN MORE POWERFULLY ON THIS ISSUE AND YOU ARE FROM Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachussetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, or West Virginia
YOUR SENATOR IS ON THE SENATE COMMITTEE THAT'S IN CHARGE OF THE FCC (the Commerce Committee).
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HAVE AN IMPACT:
From:
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 11:36 AM
Subject: Call Your Senator today to stop media monopoly.
The response to our petition on media monopoly has been enormous. In collaboration with Media Alliance, Global Exchange, and United for Peace and Justice, over 150,000 folks have signed in less than a week, and thousands more sign on every day. For an issue with little media coverage, it's a clear sign that folks are outraged.
But despite growing opposition, FCC Chair Michael Powell [Colin Powell's son] seems intent on pushing through the new media rules. His plans, which were released to several media outlets this week, are as bad as we feared -- and they now stand a good chance of becoming official policy.
We need to escalate. Since Chairman Powell won't listen to the public, our Senators need to make him listen. The Senate Commerce Committee has the jurisdiction to hold hearings on and possibly delay the FCC rule change, but it won't use that power without grassroots support.
If you live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachussetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, or West Virginia, at least one of your Senators serves on the Commerce Committee and needs to hear from you today. Ask your Senator to stop the FCC's rush to deregulation, hold hearings on the rule change, and work for a diverse, balanced, competitive, and fair media.
Please call your Senator now, at the number given at the end of this message.
Chairman Powell is trying to rush through these changes under cover of darkness. But the effects will be very visible: we're moving toward a society in which a few big companies control the entire broadcast media. The Senate's sleeping on the job: Please make a call today and help wake them up.
Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser MoveOn.org May 15th, 2003
YOU CAN FIND YOUR SENATOR'S PHONE NUMBER AT THE END OF THIS MESSAGE...
If you want some further info, here are a few good articles providing the latest details on this issue:
FCC CLOSE TO EASING MEDIA CAPS GIANT FIRMS WANT TO OWN MORE OUTLETS
San Francisco Chronicle, May 12, 2003
www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0512-01.htm
F.C.C. PREPARES TO LOOSEN RULES ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
New York Times, May 12, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/13/business/media/13FCC.html
A NEW ERA FOR MEDIA FIRMS? PUBLIC, PRIVATE INTERESTS CLASH AS REVISION OF OWNERSHIP RULES NEARS
Washington Post, May 12, 2003
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47349-2003May12.html
THESE ARE THE MEMBERS -- AND PHONE NUMBERS -- OF THE SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE, LISTED BY STATE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:
Ted Stevens - Alaska
Hart 522 202-224-3004
John McCain - Arizona
Russell 241 202-224-2235
Barbara Boxer - California
Hart 112 202-224-3553
Bill Nelson - Florida
Hart 716 202-224-5274
Daniel K. Inouye - Hawaii
Hart 722 202-224-3934
Peter G. Fitzgerald - Illinois
Dirksen 555 202-224-2854
Sam Brownback - Kansas
Hart 303 202-224-6521
John B. Breaux - Louisiana
Hart 503 202-224-4623
Olympia Snowe - Maine
Russell 250 202-224-5344
John F. Kerry - Massachussetts
Russell 304 202-224-2742
Trent Lott - Mississippi
Russell 487 202-224-6253
Conrad Burns - Montana
Dirksen 187 202-224-2644
John Ensign - Nevada
Russell 290 202-224-6244
John Sununu - New Hampshire
Russell C4 202-224-2841
Frank Lautenberg - New Jersey
Hart 825A 202-224-3224
Byron L. Dorgan - North Dakota
Hart 713 202-224-2235
Ron Wyden - Oregon
Hart 516 202-224-5244
Gordon Smith - Oregon
Russell 404 202-224-3753
Ernest F. Hollings - South Carolina
Russell 125 202-224-6121
Kay Bailey Hutchinson - Texas
Russell 284 202-224-5922
George Allen - Virginia
Hart 708 202-224-4024
Maria Cantwell - Washington
Hart 717 202-224-3441
John D. Rockefeller IV - West Virginia
Hart 531 202-224-6472
Tom Atlee * The Co-Intelligence Institute *
PO Box 493 * Eugene, OR 97440
http://www.co-intelligence.org * http://www.democracyinnovations.org Read THE TAO OF DEMOCRACY * www.taoofdemocracy.com - Please support our work. * Your donations are fully tax-deductible.
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