Citizens and media companies squared off at FCC hearings on media consolidation. PAUL CHAVEZ hears from both sides.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif.
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The issue of media consolidation -- the increasing concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few large corporations -- drew hundreds of TV viewers, radio listeners, newspaper readers and media workers to two packed Federal Communications Commission hearings.
Most of the attendees were concerned that increased media consolidation will stifle political debate, prevent minorities' access to the airwaves and could lead to increased civic apathy and even threaten democracy.
"Without diversity in ownership and participation, our democracy is in danger," Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, said Tuesday at the first hearing held at the University of Southern California.
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PRIMER ON MEDIA CONSOLIDATION
Once, radio stations, television channels and newspapers tended to be locally owned by individuals, families or relatively small media companies. The media outlets' missions were as varied as the personalities of their owners -- such as William Randolph Hearst's commitment to investigative journalism.
Big companies in search of profits soon replaced those smaller owners and found that by owning multiple broadcasts stations and newspapers in the same market they could take advantages of economies of scale to maximize profits.
Regulations limiting media consolidation have existed since the 1940s, but since the early 1980s those rules have been loosened. In a widely criticized 2003 vote, the FCC raised the national audience cap for television station owners, lifted restrictions on the number of radio and TV stations a company could own in the same market and allowed for some cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations. The loosening led to a flurry of billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions.
Critics believe the ownership of more media outlets by fewer owners has led to a decline of local coverage, since multiple media outlets can air the same reports, and has limited the variety of viewpoints.
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THE HEARINGS
The public advocacy group CALPIRG depends on an "open, diverse and antagonistic media to get our information out there," said Emily Rusch, one of the group's consumer advocates. The nonprofit argues for the lowering of energy costs, affordable health care and strict food safety standards, among other issues.
Cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers means less regional and local coverage and "jeopardizes our democracy," Rusch said.
"It's essential that Californians get the choice to see and read and hear a variety of viewpoints before they make up their mind on important public interest issues," Rusch said.
Layoffs are often a side effect of media-company mergers, said journalists and union representatives in attendance.
"In today's marketplace, being fired from one station is like being fired from eight stations," said Bernie Allen, a longtime broadcaster.
Moctesuma Esparza, a Hispanic producer ("Selena," "The Milagro Beanfield War") and executive in a movie theater chain, said that media consolidation prevents Hispanics and other minorities from creating media companies to impart their views of the world. Smaller, minority-run media companies have a difficult time fighting the bigger media companies for advertisers and programming.
Esparza said the lack of diversity in ownership means that Hispanics "don't get to see themselves on English-language television."
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BIG MEDIA WEIGHS IN
Panelists representing media companies at the hearings said media consolidation was necessary to remain competitive in the hunt for advertising dollars and viewers' attention. Some said local advertisers have been shifting their spending dollars to the Internet and cable television, which don't have to heed the FCC's local ownership and public interest rules.
Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC in Los Angeles, said providing local news coverage is expensive, particularly in sprawling Los Angeles where news crews can be dispatched across hundreds of miles each day. Contrary to the "big media is bad media assumption," Madison noted that 90 percent of local content is provided by the six largest media companies in the market.
The Chicago-based Tribune Co.'s ownership of the Los Angeles Times and the local TV station KTLA has benefited the public, argued Vincent Malcolm, general manager of KTLA.
KTLA has an on-air reporter in the Times newsroom who reports about local stories that viewers otherwise might not read, he said. Cooperation between the paper and television station also has led to special reports on KTLA based on Times coverage, including a recent series on the city's Skid Row problem, Malcolm said.
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asap reporter Paul Chavez is based in Los Angeles.
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