The Bush Administration and the U.S. newspaper, broadcasting and telecommunications industry are now involved in subtle conversations/negotiations about media ownership policies that will likely have an impact on journalism. The newspaper and broadcast lobby wants the Administration’s help to over-turn what’s left of the media ownership safeguards. This week, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told a meeting of the powerful newspaper publishers lobby, that he—like his predecessor Michael Powell—was ready to hand them their key political objective: the scuttling of the broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership rule. That policy has helped ensure that one company in a community couldn’t simultaneously operate the two most important sources of information: TV channels and the daily paper. The rule has also protected newspapers from being swept up into ratings-driven/show-biz focused TV industry empires. If the cross-ownership rule is axed, expect even less serious print reporting and more tabloid/infotainment TV-business models for dailies.
Mr. Martin clearly doesn’t have the facts with what’s causing the crisis in U.S. journalism today. Nor can we expect either Martin or his Commission to actually honestly investigate what is happening with journalism. His speech to the publishers was lifted from their lobbying playbook, including the absurd notion that allowing one company to operate several TV stations and the daily paper can bring “a significant increase in the production of local news and current affairs…†Media consolidation and cost-cutting to please Wall Street has led to this crisis. Additional consolidation will further weaken the last vehicle currently capable of sustained and meaningful serious journalism: the daily newspaper (we believe it’s too early to say whether online journalism will evolve into a permanent robust alternative in the near term.)
In another example of Martin (and the GOP) currying favor with big media, the chairman published an op-ed in the Financial Times that declared once again his support for the Telco/cable monopolies stance that they should be able to fully control the future of the high-speed Internet in the U.S.
Martin’s zealous advocacy for the telephone, cable, broadcast, and newspaper industry certainly reflects the view of the Bush White House. The chairman’s wife, Catherine Martin, is Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director for Policy and Planning (before that she was key aide to Vice President Cheney; prior to her White House position she was an aide to then Texas AG John Cornyn (now a U.S. Senator). We have a difficult time believing that whatever Kevin Martin is doing has not been vetted by the White House (just as the Clinton Administration did with its FCC agenda).
But as we proceed into the 2006 election, it will be interesting to look at how both the newspaper and broadcast TV news operations treat the Bush agenda. Will it be—as it was during the run up to the war in Iraq—a subtle quid pro quo: you waive the rules and we’ll waive the flag?
PS: Here’s the link that will take you to the great speech given by FCC Commissioner Copps at the Freedom to Connect conference on Tuesday.
