An Enlightened Citizenry is Indispensable

"The writings of Jefferson and Madison attest to the distinct social function of the free press. Jefferson, in particular, saw freedom of the press as the foundation of popular democracy and as protection against elite rule. "If once they [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs," he wrote his friend Edward Carrington, "you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves." Ironically, Jefferson's letter to Carrington is sometimes taken as arguing that the government should let private interests rule the press and let the chips fall where they may. Here is the most cited passage, but I include the follow-up sentence, which is sometimes omitted. "The basis of our governments being the opinion of people," Jefferson wrote, "the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them." The implication of this final sentence is that it is not enough to negatively protect the press system. Active promotion is necessary to ensure universal distribution of public information to competent citizens. In other words, the public's right to hear a variety of voices and properly digest their messages is the central platform of a democracy. On another occasion, Jefferson remarked, "An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic." As Madison famously put it, "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a tragedy or perhaps both." And such a free press, they argued, came as the result of explicit government policies and subsidies that would create; to think otherwise was nonsensical." McChesney p29
"The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century"

Local Media Ownership

"NOW with Bill Moyers has been reporting on media consolidation for nearly two years — and there is more to report almost daily." Politics & Economy. Media Consolidation. Local Media Ownership | PBS

Influence of Money

Networks of Influence
The political power of the communications industry WASHINGTON, October 28, 2004 — A new Center for Public Integrity investigation of campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures and other spending shows that the communications industry has spent $1.1 billion since 1998 to affect election outcomes and influence legislation before Congress and the White House.

The Fair Media Proposal

When we digitize the broadcast spectrum we should not give away or sell off these prime airways. In order for the people to be best served and for the people to have their rights protected we must set up a system that opens access to the general public. There should be a set of broadcast channels that are in competition with the existing networks and that are controlled not by a select number of elites but rather by the people in general.

Recommended Book: "The Problem of the Media"

McChesney's book, "The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century" explores the impact of media ownership and what that does to average citizens and democracy in America.

media that better reflects America

"But on the question of what these groups' larger and long-term objectives were for the media, I did get some kind of consensus. At the most fundamental level, there is a demand for a forum, for a place where diverse ideas can be heard and contrasted. The ideal seemed to be media that better reflect America, with its diversity, its ideological contentiousness, its multitude of values and standards.

When I asked Monsignor Maniscalco how he would want broadcasters to act in an ideal world, I assumed he would posit some narrow vision of an all-Catholic twenty-four-hour news channel, but he didn't. "We would like them to take a chance on things that are noncommercial, that are simply not on television," the monsignor said. "Not for the sake of how much money they can make, but because they represent significant aspects of the community. We would really like to see the concept of broadcasting in the public interest be recognized by these people as a legitimate aspect of their work."

When I posed the problem of whether he could eventually agree to share airtime with all the groups in this coalition, groups like NOW with which he had fundamental and deep disagreements, Monsignor Maniscalco had a simple answer: "You could say that the goal is for the media to give us access so we can finally have a space to argue amongst ourselves." "
from Tripping Up Big Media

The real answer is American ingenuity and personal responsibility. Giving ourselves access, not sitting by as viewers hoping that we get a fair deal. Setting the content for ourselves directly, not . Not pleading with a "decision making class" to determine what we get to see. And the beauty of the new frame work is that it is not to replace the existing broadcast networks but rather it is to offer an alternative that is in competition with the big media outlets on a level playing field. That competition will benefit each broadcast ownership framework. Pushing each broadcast system to be the best it can be.

Media Ownership

Does Media Ownership Affect Media Stands? The Case of the Telecommunications Act of 1996

J.H. Snider and Benjamin I. Page’s 1997 study on the media ownership "At a hearing on media ownership on May 13, 2003, Senate Commerce Committee Chair John McCain waved the study at a media mogul on the panel and said: “Do you think this is an anomaly?” "When the FCC and Congress were debating whether to give away or sell $70 billion worth of digital broadcast spectrum in 1996, local TV broadcasters embarked on a furious lobbying campaign to ensure that they got the spectrum for free. The study looked at two different ways that ownership interests may have influenced media coverage.
The first paper studied “Overt Bias,” media coverage of the telecommunications issue that was under debate. The paper found that newspaper editorial coverage was indeed influenced by broadcast ownership interests.

The second paper studied “Covert Bias,” actual or threatened media coverage of other issues that could apply pressure on a political candidate to take the position favored by local TV broadcasters on the telecommunications issue. The paper found that a prominent and powerful local broadcaster threatened media retribution on the key opponent of the spectrum giveaway, Senator Bob Dole, at a time and place where this threat would likely have maximum effect. The broadcaster, a member of the NAB board, made the threat soon after an NAB board meeting, which was consumed by the danger Senator Dole posed to the future of their industry." also included in the pdf file is J.H. Snider’s 1999 paper on “The Paradox of News Bias.” "The paradox of news bias is that broadcasters have a strong incentive to exercise bias in ways that are not verifiable or even detectable by either the public or scholarly community. Moreover, on issues of information policy, they have ample means to exercise bias this way."
Pub_File_1237_1.pdf

Addressing the Problems of the Current Media System

"The key weakness of the media concentration opponents is that they have not articulated an alternative economic structure or set of regulations, institutions and policies capable of addressing what they see as the problem." Reinventing Media Activism (.pdf) p80

That is exactly what Fair Media will do. A central part of Fair Media's mission is to spell out the economic structures, sets of regulations, institutions and policies capable of addressing the problem with the current media system. This includes articulating the proposals, informing the public and suggesting legislation that will implement the proposals.

Fair Media's website sill being updated

Here are two studies that I plan to link to as part of the background info:
businessofnews2.pdf
reinventing.pdf

FairMedia.org

The FairMedia.org site has been updated.