"It is the purpose
of the First Amendment to
preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will
ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization
of that market, whether it be by the government itself or a private
licensee. It is the right of the public to receive suitable access
to social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences
which is crucial here. That right may not constitutionally be
abridged either by Congress or by the FCC."
"[t]here is no sanctuary
in the First Amendment for unlimited private censorship operating
in a medium not open to all."
- U.S. Supreme Court
majority opinions, in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. vs. FCC,
1969, upholding the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine.
Some
thoughts of Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman under President
Reagan (and broadcast industry lawyer prior to that):
"The perception
of broadcasters as community trustees
should be replaced by a view of broadcasters as marketplace participants."
[Television is] "just
another appliance - it's a toaster with pictures."
- Mark S. Fowler, as interviewed
in Reason magazine, 1 Nov 1981.
"We've got to look
beyond the conventional wisdom that we must somehow regulate this
box."
- quoted in The Washington
Post, 2 June 1983
"We no longer
believe that the Fairness Doctrine, as a matter of policy, serves
the public interests."
- 1983 FCC statement by
Chairman Fowler.
"I've always thought
that it was unfortunate when Mark Fowler, President Reagan's FCC
chairman, came into office and virtually eliminated the oversight
process on behalf of the public interest.
The conventional wisdom
is wrong - we need more regulation, not less."
Barry Diller, broadcast
executive who help build the Rupert Murdoch's Fox TV network,
at the National Association of Broadcasting address, April 7,
2003.
"All television
is educational television. The only question is, 'What is it teaching?'"
FCC Commissioner Nicholas
Johnson, speech to USIA, "Turning on the Vice President,"
17 Sept 1970
"Neither public service
programming nor the Fairness Doctrine were a substitute for a
citizen's right to speak. But they were something."
"Licensees used to
have to cover local controversies with a range of views. Not
all. Not given individuals. Not 'equal
time.' Not specified content. And not within
each program. Just some minimal balance.
Now it's gone. The FCC
repealed it. Can you imagine a government agency coming out flat
footed in opposition to 'fairness'? Well, the FCC did it."
- Nicholas
Johnson,
Forum on Media Concentration, 9 Dec 2004, St. Paul, MN.
Media Reform: Not
a "liberal" issue
"We
don't give away trees to newspaper publishers.
Why should we give away more airwaves to broadcasters?
The airwaves are a natural resource. They do not belong to the
broadcasters, phone companies or any other industry. They belong
to the American people."
- Republican
Senator Bob Dole, in a March 27, 1997
opinion column.
"I
can think of no reason to allow fewer companies to own more and
more of the media!
Media ownership is a bipartisan issue that commands a close review
by Democrats and Republicans.”
- Republican
Senator Jesse Helms, in a letter to Senator Trent Lott, September
15, 2003
"[The
FCC's deregulation rules] are a direct result of the direction
given to it by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
which should have been called ‘Leave No Lobbyist Behind
Act of 1996.’”
- Republican
Senator John McCain, during Senate debate on the deregulation
ruling of the FCC of 3 June 2003 (as reported in the Congressional
Record on 11 Sept 2003).
"I
do have an opinion that this is an issue that results when
you have media concentration, which I have been opposed to....when
you have media concentration - this is the largest TV owner with
62 stations - this is something that happens."
- Republican
Senator John McCain,
quoted by the Philadelphia
Inquirer, 21 Oct 2004, on Sinclair Broadcasting's misuse of the
public airwaves for political purposes.
"Granted,
Rush Limbaugh's views differ from those heard on liberal NPR,
just as an indie movie producer can make money for a cookie-cutter
conglomerate with a film going against the grain. But while political
paranoids accuse each other of vast conspiracies, the truth
is that media mergers have narrowed the range of information and
entertainment available to people of all ideologies.
Does this
make me (gasp!) pro-regulation? Michael Powell, appointed by Bush
to be F.C.C. chairman, likes to say "the market is my religion."
My conservative economic religion is founded on the rock of competition,
which - since Teddy Roosevelt's day - has protected small business
and consumers against predatory pricing leading to market monopolization.
One of the
Democrats on the F.C.C., Michael Copps, is concerned that "we're
relying on institutions to cover this debate which have interests
in the outcome of the debate."
That inherent
conflict of interest is why I have long been banging my spoon
against the highchair.
Republicans
in the House, intimidated by the powerful broadcast lobby, don't
admit that some regulation can be pro-business; neither does
the D.C. Court of Appeals, which wants further "granulating
of evidence" that endless merging harms competition. "
- Conservative
columist William Safire, New York Times Opinion. January 20,
2003.
Sinclair
Broadcast Group
and
their abuse of the public trust
"I find deeply
offensive Sinclair's objection to "Nightline's"
intention to broadcast the names and photographs of Americans
who gave their lives in service to our country in Iraq."
"There is no valid
reason for Sinclair to shirk its responsibility in what I assume
is a very misguided attempt to prevent your viewers from completely
appreciating the extraordinary sacrifices made on their behalf
by Americans serving in Iraq."
"It
is, in short, sir, unpatriotic.
I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly
deserves."
- Senator John McCain,
in an 30 April 2004 letter to Sinclair CEO David R. Smith, on
his top-down edict to his stations forbidding them from airing
the ABC Nightline program to honor the fallen troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Smith, on the other hand, accused ABC of "doing
nothing more than making a political statement."
Views
from FCC Commisioners - Right and Left - on the occasion of the
3-2 vote, along party lines, to loosen ownership regulations on
June 2, 2003.
(After
unprecedented public outcry, this controversial FCC ruling was
overturned in the Republican-led U.S. Senate and the Republican-led
U.S. House of Representatives.)
"Those opposing today's
order have also emphasized that four companies air programming
that is chosen by approximately 75% of viewers during prime time.
To me, the critical fact is that these providers control no more
than 25% of the broadcast channels in the average home."
"Any
restraint placed on broadcasters' free speech rights must be a
reasonable means to further our public interest goals. The federal
court opinions specifically tell me that any restrictions we place
on ownership must be based on concrete evidence - not on fear
and speculation about hypothetical media monopolies intent on
exercising some sort of Vulcan mind control on the American people."
- Statements
of Kathleen Abernathy, Republican FCC commissioner, June 2,
2003.
"This
Commission's drive to loosen the rules and its reluctance to share
its proposals with the people before we voted awoke a sleeping
giant. American citizens are standing up in never-before-seen
numbers to reclaim their airwaves and to call on those who are
entrusted to use them to serve the public interest...
...The media
concentration debate will never be the same. The obscurity of
this issue that many had relied upon in the past, where only a
few dozen inside-the-Beltway lobbyists understood the issue is
gone forever. I believe, after traveling almost the length and
breadth of this land, that our citizens want, deserve, and
demand a renewed discussion of how their airwaves are being used,
and how to ensure that they are being used to serve the public
interest. I urge my colleagues to heed their call."
Statements
of FCC Commission Michael J. Copps, Democratic FCC Commissioner,
June 2, 2003.
From
the "old guard" reporters of TV's golden age:
"Not
regularly, no. There's nothing there. There's
nothing but crime and sob sister material. It's scandel sheet
stuff, tabloid stuff, for the most part I find. That's too bad.
I would like to see it more responsible, if you please."
- Walter
Cronkite, pioneer TV reporter and anchor, when asked, "Do
you watch much TV?"
(from
"Bad News: The Decline of Reporting, the Business of News,
and the Danger to Us All" by Tom Fenton, 2005.)
