Media De-Regulation
Has anything good come out of deregulation thus far? Best as I can tell this, along with the DMCA (or is it DCMA?), are two of the worst things to happen in this country in a long time.
War not included.
War not included.
Comments
Originally posted by Scott
Why are you against freedom?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Oh by the way that link doesn't work.
Originally posted by Scott
Why are you against freedom?
Why have government at all?
Originally posted by ShawnPatrickJoyce
Why have government at all?
Duh! To protect freedom.
But really SPJ. Say you own a TV station in a city. Who's to tell you you can't own a newspaper too?
Originally posted by Argento
Oh by the way that link doesn't work.
Still worked for me.
Originally posted by Scott
Why are you against freedom?
Was busting Rockefeller truly 'against freedom'? Is being against the DCMA 'against freedom'?
Originally posted by bunge
Was busting Rockefeller truly 'against freedom'? Is being against the DCMA 'against freedom'?
Okay. So we have anti-trust laws, why do we need more than that? If your goal is to make sure there is no monopoly on the media why do we need such draconian laws? Who's the government to tell you, bunge, that you can't own both a TV station and a newspaper in your home town?
Originally posted by Scott
Okay. So we have anti-trust laws, why do we need more than that? If your goal is to make sure there is no monopoly on the media why do we need such draconian laws? Who's the government to tell you, bunge, that you can't own both a TV station and a newspaper in your home town?
Exactly. That's why I advocate the abolishment of all government.
Government either has to do it hard-core or not at all. Of course, I know how our politicans' votes go -- where there's the most money.
Originally posted by bunge
Still worked for me.
Yeah, that's weird it works now, friggin windows.
Originally posted by Scott
Why are you against freedom?
Freedom??? Freedom???? Try setting up a local microwatt (under 100 watts) community radio station in your city and the FCC rules and regulations are so severe that it is virtually impossibleto do so without breaking the law. The FCC will only grant a license to stations with transmitters of 100 watts or more, so those who want to set up a community radio station have to do so minus a license. If you go there, the Feds (FCC) will come down on you with the weight of a mountain range crashing down.
At the same time, the FCC routinely grants big favors to massive corporate broadcasters, for example waiving restrictions on syndicating Fox's shows, allowing them to broadcast into the U.S. from Mexican stations, and granting Murdoch a waiver allowing him to own a TV stations (for example WNYW) and a newspaper (the New York Post) in the same market.
Questions of control of broadcast licenses rarely get raised by the corporate-owned media. Something of an exception occurred recently when two networks questioned each others' broadcasting licenses: NBC alleged that Fox, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is a foreign-owned company and therefore under FCC rules should not be allowed to control U.S. stations; Fox retorted that GE, which owns NBC, is a corporate felon - which could jeopardize NBC's own licenses.
Even this limited public debate over corporate control of broadcasting seems to be too much for the FCC. "One source close to the case said former FCC chairman Reed Hundt thinks press coverage of this has become a circus," Daily Variety (12/9/94) reported. The FCC for a time imposed a gag order on the NAACP's challenge to Fox's licenses on the grounds of foreign ownership.
In a free society the airwaves should belong to the people. (Wow that sounds so traditionally American....waving the flag here). It's ironic that the less regulation there is on ownership, the harder (impossible) it becomes for the little guy to have a go at broadcasting. Deregulation FCC 2003 style will make life easy for dinosaur business, while the mom'n'pop operation can get screwed over, just like in many other areas of trade. Isn't capitalism supposed to be about healthy COMPETITION???? Oh, perhaps not now...monopoly and centralization is all the rage.
It's also more than a little suspect that the FCC is chaired by Michael Powell, a close relative of Sec. of State Colin Powell. It's also suspect that he is also a friend of Lowell Mays, the CEO of Clear Channel...who is also a very close friend of G.W. Bush. It's also a tad suspect that he is a good friend of Rupert Murdoch...CEO of News Corp and Fox. Liberal media? Yeah, right. ha!
Meanwhile...microwatt radio pioneer Stephen Dunnifer advises people on how to set up 15 watt local community radio stations and gets perpetual police and FCC harassment. Oh..the dubious joys of trying to set up some independent media to compete with the increasingly "Sovietized" corporate/government sanctioned variety.
What kind of freedom are you blithering about, Scott?
Man you are batty.
IMO everything is legal and you have to have a very good reason to make it illegal. I'm not hearing that good reason.
Originally posted by Scott
I mean why is the FCC in a position to favor anyone over anyone else. Regulation. Why is the NAACP suing Fox news? Seems rather opportunistic huh? Trying to shut them up? Must be doing something right. But then again why is there even a court to hear it in, regulation.
IMO everything is legal and you have to have a very good reason to make it illegal. I'm not hearing that good reason.
So, in favor of decriminalizing all victimless crimes then Scotty boy?
Originally posted by Scott
Okay. So we have anti-trust laws, why do we need more than that?
Clear Channel is a great example of how the anti-trust laws aren't working. Read the article, Diller explains the problems very clearly, for morons like us to understand.
Originally posted by Scott
No shit SJO? I would be for deregulation of that too.
Man you are batty.
Batty? But she's correct. If you mean to say you're for deregulation of the restrictions on 'the little guy' then we're in agreement on that.
Media de-regulation is horrible. By and large, de-regulation is usually a bad idea with regard to how we run things in the US.