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FCC Orders Anti-Monopoly Report Destroyed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the for-the-good-of-the-people dept.

jagger writes "According to an article on MSNBC a report, written by two economists in the FCC's Media Bureau, showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of 'on-location' news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. Senior managers at the agency ordered that 'every last piece' of the report be destroyed."

5 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Memory hole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not a slip. Eric Blair used "George Orwell" as his pen name, and "1984" was written in 1948.

  2. Report and response are online by lostboy2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Fascinating.

    The draft report and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's response to Senator Boxer are linked on the
    FCC's website.

  3. Re:What a surprise by BrynM · · Score: 5, Informative
    Perhaps you didn't realize that the FCC Chairman at that time (Michael Powell) was appointed by President Bill Clinton. Somebody rate the parent comment as flamebait.
    Damn there's a lot of "facts" being thrown around in this thread. From the Wikipedia article on Michael Powell:
    President George W. Bush designated him chairman of the commission on 22 January 2001. (then at the end of the article) Powell resigned as Chairman of the FCC on January 21, 2005.
    He was followed by Kevin Martin. According to his WP entry:
    Martin worked several years for Wiley, Rein & Fielding, "Rated Top Telecommunications Lobbyists" according to an article on their website. The firm represents the Bells as well as Viacom/CBS, Gannett, Belo, Emmis, Gray Television, and Motorola.
    . Thus, the current and most recent former Chairmen of the FCC have been both Bush appointees, Republicans and the current one is a former media company lobbyist.
    --
    US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
  4. Re:What a surprise by maynard · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem I see is everybody tries to pin *everything* on Bush, you trip on a crack and it's his fault, etc.

    Two points:

    1) Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina): Proposed the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act, an onerous and horrific bill had it been passed. IOW: There are many Democrats on the side of media monopolies too.

    2) President Bush is responsible for setting policy, and that includes FCC policy. However, that does not mean that President Bush had anything to do with the decision to destroy this document. In all likelihood, he didn't even know it existed. However, the President is still responsible for what happens under his watch as the policymaker. Boards of directors still hold CEOs accountable for serious mismanagement or criminal conduct by their staff, even if the CEO may not have been directly involved.

  5. Re:they're so cute when they get worked up by Bassman59 · · Score: 4, Informative
    Listen, hon, the horse left that barn behind a long time ago. Congress has made itself pretty much irrelevant.

    Recall that the Republican-controlled Senate and House made itself irrelevant under a Republican president--so blame the Republicans. Contrast that to how the Republican Senate and House acted during the Clinton adminstration.