Gotta love those federal whistleblowers, especially since they no longer have protection under King Bush’s Fiat. I would LOVE to shake that whistleblower’s hand. Last week the FCC had to answer to the Senate Commerce Committee re a report that it hid under the carpet to avoid discrediting the upcoming decision re Big Media Mergers. These Media Mergers are a very huge part of King Bush’s plan to subvert the democratic process further by making sure that most of the major cities are “Company Towns” with all or most media owned by his corporate cronies. The report was outed by an FCC whistleblower to Senator Barbara Boxer, of CA, and presented to the Senate Commerce Committee. Of course, past and present members of the FCC board were spinning this “clerical error” like a top, but that approach exploded in their face yesterday when Senator Boxer revealed another suppressed research report on Independent Media Ownership replete with plenty of empirical evidence to support the view that the only good media merger is NO media merger. The article, posted on Common Dreams dot org, goes on to point out why this is critical timing:

Martin finally agreed to an independent investigation on Monday night, though no timetable has been set. But — and this is crucial –he apparently does not intend to delay his mad rush to relax ownership rules until the investigation has been completed and steps have been implemented to address the problem. It is full speed ahead. So right now this looks more like a PR stunt than a genuine effort to get at the truth and deal with its implications for policy making. In view of Martin’s and the FCC’s record, skepticism is not only justified, but warranted.

Let me explain. This scandal could not have hit the FCC at a worse time from Martin’s vantage point. Right now, the FCC is formally reviewing its local media ownership rules and is prepared to vote on relaxing or eliminating them as soon as the end of the year. In 2003, when Powell tried to eliminate any restrictions on local media ownership, the public revolted, with an extraordinary left-right coalition that generated nearly 3 million letters to the FCC and Congress. Powell announced plans for numerous public hearings on media localism across the country as he tried to persuade Congress he was actually listening to the people. The federal courts eventually rejected Powell’s plan to relax media ownership rules in 2004, and he resigned as a failure in 2005.

Powell’s plans for hearings on localism were quietly dropped after Powell learned in no uncertain terms at the tumultuous hearings he attended that the public wanted more locally owned broadcast media and wanted rules to reverse media consolidation, not permit it.

Kevin Martin now has been tasked by the Bush administration to do the job his predecessor couldn’t: Eliminate the restrictions on local media ownership so the big media firms, like Tribune, Sinclair, News Corp., Clear Channel, Gannett, Belo and Media General, — which have been so supportive of the Bush administration — could build local monopolies by gobbling up most of the media in communities around America.

Their vision is of owning an empire of company media towns with one monopoly newsroom servicing all the outlets in a town, and a massive reliance on inexpensive syndicated fare. A dream for the company that holds the monopoly – and for the politicians it supports – but a nightmare for everyone else.

Martin has promised to hold as many as six official public hearings but has so far only committed to one in Los Angeles on October 3. He and the Republican majority are unequivocally in favor of scrapping rules limiting local media monopolies, but they have to at least make it look like they care about the public and due process – because that’s what the law requires – to get their gift to big media approved by the courts.

But this scandal has thrown a monkey wrench into Martin’s and the Bush administration’s best-laid plans. Core research that undermines the argument for relaxing media ownership rules has been suppressed by the agency that is legally obligated to serve the public interest. Something is utterly rotten here, and the logical question facing everyone is how extensive has this pattern of corruption and suppression been?

It is time for a clean broom to sweep out the dirt at the FCC, and one can only hope that the investigation turns up enough evidence so that the new appointments are not made by a hopefully soon-to-be Lame Duck President. There’s a petition at StopBigMedia.com to let the FCC members know that changing the Media Ownership Rules before the investigation is complete is not what we, the people, want.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who notices a disturbing pattern here. At Bush’s behest the FCC attempts to relax media merger rules to benefit the large media companies, and the FCC scrap Net Neutrality for the telecomms and media companies. Bush also orders indiscriminate wiretaps without warrant in the name of Homeland Security . . . you have to wonder what’s next. The Nazi party consolidated power in much the same way by controlling access to the media in the 1930’s in Germany. I guess Bush must have learned well from his grandad, the Nazi Supporter Prescott Bush. For those of you who don’t want Bush to be pardoned by the Senate for the Wiretapping offenses, there’s another petition you can sign at MoveOn.org.

I just hope we can neuter these political maneuvers before they gut what few rights we have left.

Technorati Tags: FCC Scandal, FCC Whistleblower, Senator Barbara Boxer, Bush, Media Ownership, Media Merger, Powell, Martin, Net Neutrality, Senate Commerce Committee

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