Posts
NEW STUDY OF PORTLAND, AUGUSTA & BANGOR MEDIA MARKETS SHOWS FCC MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULE CHANGES WILL HARM LOCAL MAINE COMMUNITIES
-- Study released following revelations that FCC ordered
its own research report supporting diverse, local news “destroyed” --
PORTLAND -- Local communities in Maine will be harmed if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loosens key limits on media ownership, according to new research by economic experts on behalf of Maine members of the Media and Democracy Coalition. In Portland, Augusta and Bangor, the study finds that almost any merger among large media outlets will violate US Dept. of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines on excessive market concentration and power. Yet these mergers would be allowed under the FCC’s proposed new rules with “no questions asked.”
The study shows that under the FCC’s proposal to loosen media ownership limits:
In Augusta, the state capital, The Sun Journal, The Morning Sentinel, and The Kennebec Journal, the major players in the newspaper market, could suddenly merge with any of the top TV stations: WCHS, WMTW, or WGME.
In Bangor, the lone major newspaper, the Bangor Daily News, could suddenly merge with one of the top two local TV stations: WLBZ and WABI.
In Portland, the Portland Press Herald, the dominant local newspaper, could suddenly merge with WCHS, WMTW or WGME, the top TV stations.
All of these resulting combinations will violate US Dept. of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines on excessive market concentration and power. Yet they would all be allowed under the FCC’s proposed new rules with “no questions asked.”
“Bigger, fewer media outlets with less interest in local news would be bad for Maine citizens trying to decide if we have effective local government and good corporate citizens,” said coalition member Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause Maine, commenting on the study. “That’s bad for democracy. If the FCC proposal allowing our biggest local newspapers to merge with our biggest local TV stations goes forward, Maine citizens will end up getting inadequate choices in a news market that already ranks as too-concentrated based on Department of Justice guidelines.”
“Giving citizens a variety of viewpoints and plenty of local views are two of our nation’s most important media policy goals,” added Tony Vigue of the Community Television Association of Maine. “If the FCC allows these mergers, it will be harder for citizens to even learn about, let alone respond to local issues such as crime, schools and traffic.”
The Maine study is one of 15 state studies conducted by the Media and Democracy Coalition as part of its nationwide campaign to alert Americans to the dangers the FCC’s proposed rule changes pose to their local communities. In town hall meetings, visits with elected officials, online action campaigns, newspaper articles and op-eds, and numerous other ways, Coalition member organizations are urging Americans to tell their representatives and the Commissioners of the FCC that more media consolidation and concentration is bad for local communities and bad for America’s democracy.
The Coalition study comes out after revelations that senior FCC officials had ordered “destroyed” a staff report that concluded locally-owned stations provided significantly more local news than national conglomerates. Taken together, the FCC and MDC research studies clearly demonstrate that additional mergers in these Maine markets could significantly harm citizens in those communities, according to the MDC study’s author, Dr. Mark Cooper, research director of Consumer Federation of America, a leading expert on the structure and economics of our nation’s media.
In 2003, the FCC voted to loosen these same media ownership rules. But that decision was overturned by the Philadelphia-based U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in an action brought by coalition member Prometheus Radio Project of Philadelphia. With the FCC now again considering whether to relax or eliminate its ownership rules, this Coalition research answers the Appeals Court’s call for better analysis of media concentration in local communities. “The data clearly demonstrate that any further relaxation or elimination of media ownership limits by the FCC is not in the public interest,” added Dr. Daniel Panici, Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Southern Maine.
Craig Saddlemire, producer for the Public Access Program Maine Video Activists Network noted, "This is a case of public interest versus private corporate influence. No one in Maine, or the rest of the United States for that matter, wants to see their access to art, culture, news, and information limited to fewer and fewer sources. Consolidation is good for one thing only: advertising revenue.” Saddlemire continued, “If the FCC wants to improve the climate for quality media production, it will develop rules which encourage independent and local ownership of print, radio, and television services. Diversity and competition are the keys to a healthy media system and the only ways we can ensure multiple viewpoints reach the mainstream."
Civil rights activist and video producer Mike Reynolds of Lewiston added, “The new FCC rules would hamper already marginalized voices. Media consolidation benefits just those already wealthy and powerful in our society.”
In 2003, the FCC received over three million public comments opposing its attempt to increase media concentration. MDC organizations are again urging all citizens to file comments at the FCC opposing its latest effort to loosen crucial media ownership limits.
The Media and Democracy Coalition is an unincorporated affiliation of national, state and local consumer, public interest, organized labor and media reform organizations representing tens of millions of Americans. It is committed to promoting vigorous competition, diversity of viewpoints, and localism in our national and local media. MDC accepts no corporate funding. Rather, its funding comes from foundations concerned about issues at the nexus of media and democracy. More information about the Coalition, its members, as well as these research reports, is available at the Coalition’s website, www.media-democracy.net.
“We need more, not fewer media outlets competing in the marketplace of news and ideas to help guarantee that our communities go and grow,” concluded Jon Bartholomew. “More media mergers may make media moguls richer, but local communities will be poorer.”
# # #
