...media consolidation rules?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/03/breaking_the_news.html

Republican President Bush is threatening a veto, of course, but I find the congressional action interesting. These rules were made despite a considerable lack of public support and without a clear case for public benefit having any real merit.

This is a very complicated issue, but one thing is certain. The FCC has not be operating in the public interest for many years now.

The current FCC noise about rule making to reimplement the archaic studio location rules, the community ascertainment procedures, the "community watchdogs" to watch over play lists and voice tracking are nothing but political BS to attempt to appease the critics.

The FCC has set the broadcasting industry up to be destroyed and the mega-operators took the bait. They deserve to lose badly.

Yes, and what I am waiting for , and this will probably depend upon what party is elected to the executive branch next fall , is a a revisitation of the 'fairness doctrine'...another train wreck in the wings.

I think the fairness doctrine will be hard to resesutate. With the diversity of media channels out there today, it's hard to justify putting the responsibility of "fairness" on the few remaining terrestrial media broadcasters. The only leverage the government has to demand fairness is the use of public airwaves - and how many people (short of people in cars) still receive media in this fashion?

95%!