"Corporate Control of the Media" US Rep. Bernie Sanders has a new website

[G_j]

US Rep. Bernie Sanders has a new website entitled "Corporate
Control of the Media": http://www.bernie.house.gov/corporate_media/home.asp

A Message From Congressman Sanders

The media plays a crucial in our democracy in providing objective and unbiased points of view.


Since Congress passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the United States has seen an enormous upsurge in media consolidation that has led to the increased homogenization of what Americans see, hear, and read. Profit has eclipsed traditional concern for the public's interest and brought with it a host of consequences. Minority programming, seen as less appealing to advertisers, has become increasingly under-represented. Budgets for investigative journalism have been reduced turning reporters into unofficial mouthpieces for the decision makers they are supposed to challenge. Programs with violent and sexual content have become pervasive while local radio has been replaced with formulaic one-size-fits-all content delivered from corporate headquarters thousands of miles away.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Brundle_Fly]

2. welcome to tombstone.

[noclonyofthechimp]

3. Exactly! This one seems highly intelligent!

[martinolich]

5. ..and why might that be?

[Brundle_Fly]

4. Good for Bernie.

Not like it's news to anyone here...but this must be addressed, on a major level.

[Killarney]

6. I'm glad to see someone in Congress addressing this.

[MatrixEscape]

7. It is essential that this

core problem be approached concretly and squarely. Lip service will not do.

I am glad to see something on a more official level that recognizes the problem. This momentum has to grow or there is no Democracy in essence.

It seems to smack a bit of censorship, and I think "hate radio" was overlooked. But then, both are more controversial issues and subject to interpretation.

[matcom]

8. Thanks Bernie but....

i'm afraid too little too late. just how does one 'de'-consolidate now?

they bought the stations. they own them. you'll NEVER be able to take them away.

thanks though. ah, 1995 was SUCH a nice time

[cali]

12. Your criticism of Bernie

is unfounded and uninformed. Bernie's been fighting this battle since at least 1995- and fighting it vigorously. His congressional website has for years contained valuble information about this issue. He has, in fact, been the chief congressional leader on this issue. He was one of 16 Congressional members who voted against the 1996 Act. Only 5 Senators voted against it. One was Pat Leahy. The others were Wellstone, Feingold, Paul Simon and McCain. Bernie's been on numerous talk shows discussing the vital importance of this issue, including on Bill Moyer's NOW. You may well be right about our not being able to do anything about this, but I take heart from Bernie's stubborn refusal to give up on the issue of corporate media control. It's nice to give credit where credit's due.

[matcom]

15. didn't criticize Bernie at ALL

and my thanks to him was sincere thank you very much. just stating what I believe to be factual: HOW does anyone think this can be rectified? you gonna pass legislation FORCING Murdoch to sell what he owns?

don't think so.

nice quick to judge me though

[cali]

16. Sorry if I misinterpreted

what you said. You wrote that it was too little too late from Bernie. I pointed out that that was hardly the case re Bernie's efforts. As far as being quick to judge, at least I didn't call you an asshole, something you were quick to label me as, the other day.

[IrateCitizen]

23. Well, they did it with Rockefeller's Standard Oil...

It's just a matter of political will among a sizeable coalition. It happened once before, it can happen again.

[AP]

20. One way would be to have high marginal tax rates on super high levels

of corporate income.

That would help make small media more competitve against big media.

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. Does anyone remember what the Clinton admn's....

position was on the '96 telecommunications act ? Did he veto it?

Did Dem lawmakers oppose it or warn us of the consequences?

[PATRICK]

11. Clinton was dangerously

empowering the news cartel and taking steps to curb the Internet and other things that would be critically dangerous in the wrong hands. People in both parties feared this justly when it came to Clinton.

Therefore he never got too far except for the lazy faire policy of letting the cartels and monopolies grow vaster.

Until the wrong hands came along and proved what a dupe "reasonable" Dems can be when they cast off principles like old suits of clothes. All of a sudden all those dangers are proven true and completely acceptable- strangely- to the majority of all those once whiny anti-Clinton reps.

[Brundle_Fly]

13. it was those same media empires

that dogged clinton thru his second term.

[Smarmie Doofus]

14. In other words... he did nothing? Said nothing?

What about other Dems in Congress? NOBODY said ANYTHING?

[cali]

17. Practically no one.

Bernie and fifteen others in the House. Five in the Senate. Pretty pathetic.

[AP]

22. Democrats were split on this bill with people like Gore and Larry Summers

on one side, and people like Stiglitz on the other side. The end result was that compromise within the Democrat party--before they even had to compromise with Republicans -- produced a pretty conservative bill, and since Gore was the one managing the whole thing, the bill really reflected his conservative feelings about the telecom business.

[AP]

21. Clinton gave this job to Gore and Gore wrote a bill that was extremely...

...kind to big big business.

The Roaring 90s by Joe Stiglitz covers the process.

Gore now is trying to start a cable company.

[Smarmie Doofus]

24. Yikes... Old adage applies here....

something like, " If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."

[PATRICK]

10. One area of regulation

before the fledgling innocents of broadcasting became a cartel of infotainment circus gods, was stipulating the duty of each network regarding public service information and news.

Now we only talk about purging dirty Japanese anime and the occasional slip of a bra.

So degenerate has the public service idea become that people like Sanders seem quaintly mad- from all sides. This is what I expect from the remnants of democratic loyal opposition in Congress.

Real remedies must come from popular action. The quizzical fine speeches from a slaughtered government provide no hope or comfort or reasonable course of action.

But we will support the idea nonetheless. Go get em, tiger.

[rman]

18. concentration of media power is a condition for and a symptom of Despotism

Fascism is a form of Despotism.

Despotism - Encyclopaedia Britannica Films
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=00178

Wikipedia - Despotism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despotism

[parkening]

19. Wanna hear my funny story re bernie sanders?

When I was in college, we lived just down the street from Bernie Sanders, the then mayor of Burlington. On Halloween a couple boys stopped at our place trick-or-treating. They asked for eggs to 'egg' this old ladies house. We (college kids that we were) said we'd let them have eggs if they 'egged' Bernie Sanders house. They said no they couldn't do that. We asked why. They said,"because he's our dad!!!"