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06.11.03 12:32 AM

how do the new FCC rules really stack up?

If you're still unclear about how the new FCC rules will affect online publishing, the Online Publishers Association has clarified it a bit in its recent weekly newsletter. They also provide links to cogent analysis from reports at CNET news.com, Wired News, Salon, Shirky.com, Online Journalism Review, and Media Life.

If you've been missing out on the debate, here's a synopsis culled from Alternet. And the way I see it, it's not a very good thing. If media is in the hands of the few, then won't we just get the same news, information, and entertainment all the time. Capitalism, I tell ya'. I want my free media. Sounds like it's high time for bloggers to rise up. Anyway, here's the Alternet lead-in paragraph from "TECHSPLOITATION: FCC and Anti-FCC," by Annalee Newitz:

"Everyone from feminists in the National Organization for Women to gun-lovers at the National Rifle Association has been protesting the recent Federal Communications Commission decision to change the way it regulates media ownership, allowing big-media corporations like Viacom to garner more audience share than ever. The June 2 decision permits media companies to own several types of media outlet (like newspapers and TV and radio stations) in the same market at the same time; more important, one company can now own up to 45 percent of television stations nationwide (this is up from 35 percent). The decision is so patently creepy that even media mogul Ted Turner and Senate Commerce Committee chair John McCain are pissed off."

posted by lynne | link to this |