Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been keeping a secret from the American people. He wants to push through plans to remove decades-old media ownership protections. And he's trying to do it without public scrutiny.
Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) have introduced groundbreaking bipartisan legislation that would hold the FCC accountable and put the people ahead of Big Media.
Petitions from the public — millions of them — stopped media consolidation in 2003. Sign the petition and tell everyone you know:
http://stopbigmedia.com
We beat them once and I suspect that, much like saving the Internet, we will have to do this over and over again until Congress finally tells them their monopolistic ideals will never get a pass. The media conglomerates already have too much of a monopoly and deserve to be downsized for the good of the nation.
The media landscape is dominated by massive corporations that, through a history of mergers and acquisitions, have concentrated too much control in too few hands. This leads to a lack of diversity of voices, programming that is out of touch with local concerns and increasingly commercial and homogenized news and entertainment. Further consolidation will produce media in which only the powerful few will be heard.The chart below maps out the control the six most concentrated giants exert over all forms of news, entertainment and information.
Click on these links to view information on conglomerates that control:
Update: If you are feeling doubly activisty today, here is a really important fight on another communications battle front from Matt Browner Hamelin:
The Citizen Generated Whip Count calling tool is free to use to make the phone call, but no guarantees it is free from spying unless we all take advantage of it to stop retro-immunity for the political and corporate criminals involved.
Second, if you're feeling discouraged by the increased chances of amnesty for telecoms making it out of the Judiciary Committee, remember that Senator Dodd has vowed to stop any such legislation from becoming law, either through a hold or by filibuster if necessary. Dodd will stand up for the rule of law. He will defend the Constitution.
Now is the time to take action, though. Chris Dodd won't wait until 2009 to lead and we shouldn't wait until 2009 to stand up for what we believe in.
Call the Senate Judiciary Committee today - we'll do the dialing for you through our Citizen Generated Whip Count calling tool: http://chrisdodd.com/immunity
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