Media ownership and consolidation is a critical issue of our time. Yesterday the Senate listened to the American people and, for once, stood up for the public interest when they passed a Resolution of Disapproval that “would nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s latest attempt to dismantle longstanding media ownership limits”.
The staff here at Revolutionary signed a Freepress.net petition, wrote letters to our Georgia Senators, Chambliss and Isakson, and placed phone calls yesterday to their offices urging them to vote for the Resolution. Because the Senate vote was a Voice Vote, no record was kept of individual Senators votes, unfortunately. In any event, we will continue to engage Congress and make our positions known.
From Historic Senate Vote Rejects FCC’s Rules at StopBigMedia.com:
“In a near-unanimous voice vote tonight, the Senate passed a “resolution of disapproval” that would nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s latest attempt to dismantle longstanding media ownership limits.”
“Last December, the FCC voted to remove the “newspaper/ broadcast cross-ownership” ban that prohibits one company from owning a broadcast station and the major daily newspaper in the same market. The resolution of disapproval (Senate Joint Resolution 28), introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), would nullify the FCC’s new rules if passed by Congress and signed by the president. The House version of the resolution was introduced by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) in March.”
Unsurprisingly, the Executive Branch is in the front pocket of Big Business on this issue, and doesn’t give a damn what the American people want:
“Today, the Bush administration issued a statement opposing the resolution and threatening to veto it. The statement called the FCC’s new rules the product of “extensive public comment and consultation” but failed to mention that only 1 percent of public comments supported the administration’s position…”
