Change the Channels!

More politicking I know. But it doesn't take a media researcher to know that communities are getting less local news than ever before. If they air the exact same news-piece on several stations, fewer viewpoints are represented. It wastes bandwidth on redundant information. In my opinion, the FCC should consider this as bad stewardship when it renews licenses.  I see this as not overt, but covert consolidation. Ben Bagdikian predicted most of this back in the 1970s.

Expose Covert Media Consolidation Now from Free Press on Vimeo.
SaveTheNews.org, a project of Free Press, is leading the search for new public policies to support quality journalism and ensure communities are getting the news they need. Learn More.

Around the country, broadcasters are using sneaky legal deals and loopholes to evade the FCC’s media ownership rules. This “covert consolidation” takes many forms, but the results are the same: Media companies pad their bottom line by sacrificing local journalism, competition and diversity. FCC reviews its media ownership rules, tell it that you won’t stand for stations polluting your community with photocopy journalism and junk news. Covert consolidation has to go. It’s time to change the channels. Learn More
Please put an end to broadcasters’ abuse of the FCC’s media ownership rules. The rules are supposed to protect localism, diversity and competition on the public airwaves, but in almost 80 markets across the country, these rules have been circumvented. Media companies have taken advantage of loopholes to covertly consolidate more than 200 stations, colluding rather than competing in order to cut costs.

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