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Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 17:41:37 -0700
To: rpusa@uwsa.com, reform@world.std.com, reforum@primenet.com, rpusa@uwsa.com,
ram@ionet.net
From: John De Lasaux
Subject: [UWSA] Re: Fwd: [RP] Broadcast Lobby Triumphs
Cc: uwsa@uwsa.com
Sender: owner-uwsa-uwsa@uwsa.com
Reply-To: uwsa@uwsa.com
I'm glad that our arrogant government, in collusion with the arrogant
media, have swindled Americans on such a monumental scale!!
This is the way we will finally be able to make the case that our
government is totally out of control and needs to be drastically overhauled.
If we were only being "take" a little here and a little there, the impetus
to make a dramatic change would never occur.
If you think the "Airwaves Giveaway" is bad .....
Watch for the next installment of our rip-off Congress in action, when
Congress passes the latest tax bill. You will see the most invasive and
draconian rules yet ... instead of the "dissolution of the IRS" for which
we all hope in vain.
Just a few more moves by our arrogant Congress, and the whole house of
cards will come down around their ears, as Americans go on a "feeding
frenzy" on our fat-cat Congress.
Pay close attention, so you won't miss any of the fun.
Stay tuned!!
John D
===================
At 11:06 AM 7/23/97 -0400, CopyQueen@aol.com wrote:
>Our friend Mr. Safire lights off after the broadcast media this time!
>
>Donna D.
>---------------------
>Forwarded message:
>From: gra@inetport.com
>Sender: owner-uwsa-rpusa@right-net.com
>Reply-to: rpusa@uwsa.com
>To: reforum@primenet.com
>Date: 97-07-23 09:59:11 EDT
>
>>
>>
>> July 23, 1997 NY Times
>>
>> ESSAY / By WILLIAM SAFIRE
>>
>> Broadcast Lobby Triumphs
>>
>> [W] ASHINGTON -- The use of government power to
>> remain in power is an abuse of power. That
>> insult to democracy was the essence of the
>> Watergate scandal a generation ago and is at the
>> core of today's campaign finance scandal.
>>
>> In the same way, the broadcast media's use of
>> their power to protect themselves from competition
>> and to enrich themselves at public expense is an
>> abuse of media power.
>>
>> This week, we are seeing (though not on
>> television) the broadcast lobby's triumph in
>> Congress.
>>
>> Behind closed doors of House-Senate conferences,
>> finishing touches are being put on the most
>> blatant example of corporate welfare: the
>> multibillion-dollar giveaway of our digital
>> airwaves.
>>
>> Because TV stations dictate local coverage, the
>> broadcast lobby strikes bipartisan terror in
>> officeholders' hearts. Fearful of the value put on
>> channels by the recent auctions of parts of the
>> spectrum, the broadcasters' trade association and
>> its 10 major players hired 174 registered
>> lobbyists, from Tommy Boggs and Ann Richards on
>> the left to Haley Barbour and Tom Korologos on the
>> right.
>>
>> To such skilled persuasion, add cold cash: In the
>> past two years, according to the Center for Public
>> Integrity, this portion of the lobby's "spectrum
>> grabbers" donated $7.6 million to Federal
>> campaigns and party committees.
>>
>> This week's payoff is sweet. Broadcasters who
>> already have been given, at no cost, a monopoly to
>> broadcast on an old, analogue frequency are being
>> given -- free -- six channels on the
>> high-definition, digital spectrum that belongs to
>> the public. No other lobby in this
>> budget-balancing era can proudly point to such a
>> taxpayer ripoff, worth billions. It's like giving
>> Yellowstone National Park to timber companies.
>>
>> To justify this historic heist, the lobby and its
>> wholly owned subsidiary, Representative Billy
>> Tauzin, piously claim to be merely making sure
>> that owners of present-day sets get today's fuzzy
>> signals a decade from now. In that way,
>> broadcasters would keep their original channel so
>> long as 1 set owner in 20 doesn't convert -- which
>> means forever.
>>
>> With Bob Dole replaced as majority leader by
>> broadcaster-friendly Trent Lott, one lone Senator
>> tried to resist the giveaway. John McCain,
>> Republican of Arizona, was flattened by the
>> broadcast lobby's steamroller; as he puts it, "my
>> record on this is unblemished by victory."
>>
>> McCain is becoming the patron saint of mavericks.
>> By pushing for liability reform, he invites the
>> fury of the trial lawyers' lobby; by sponsoring
>> campaign finance reform, he irritates G.O.P. pols;
>> by attacking the ethanol subsidy, he hurts his
>> chances in an Iowa caucus; and by resisting the
>> thundering herd of broadcast lobbyists -- 29 from
>> CBS alone -- he jeopardizes the television
>> exposure needed for any national campaign.
>>
>> "What troubles me," McCain says, "is that the
>> voters never got a clear picture of this giveaway
>> on television. 'The Fleecing of America,' 'It's
>> Your Money' -- where were they?"
>>
>> The only spectrum piece I saw on NBC ridiculed the
>> failure of one auction, with no reference to the
>> many other public auctions of licenses that
>> tripled expectations.
>>
>> Reed Hundt, outgoing chairman of the Federal
>> Communications Commission -- a Gore man, but
>> market-oriented -- has been against giving the
>> broadcasting moguls a free ride into the financial
>> future.
>>
>> "It's bad enough that broadcasters are being given
>> both digital and analogue channels in perpetuity,
>> without paying money or in-kind," he says. "Worse
>> is that there have been no major televised
>> discussions of the issue. The number one missing
>> piece in the puzzle is, why wasn't this story
>> about TV covered on TV?"
>>
>> Your favorite news anchors, network and local, and
>> your high-rated magazine shows did not conspire to
>> suppress coverage of the grab of public assets by
>> their employers. Nothing so dramatic.
>>
>> They, and their producers, and the owners of their
>> stations (which often include newspapers) simply
>> failed in their obligation to fully report, and to
>> seek adversarial comment on, the triumph of the
>> broadcast lobby.
>>
>> Media power pressured and paid government
>> officials to protect and extend media monopolies.
>> Journalists must ask ourselves: Where were we
>> during this abuse of power?
>>
>>
>
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John De Lasaux
Phoenix, AZ
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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 21:37:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: MichaelP
Subject: Buyout threat to public broadcasting (fwd)
BUYOUT THREAT LOOMS FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
By Norman Solomon
It could happen to you.
This month, thousands of people tuned into their favorite
public radio station -- and heard that it's about to disappear.
The terse announcement aired on WDCU Radio, the only full-
time jazz station in the city of Washington. Just three public
radio outlets in the country have a larger black audience. But
WDCU's owner, the University of the District of Columbia, is
dumping it for $13 million.
While the college trustees balance their budget, Salem
Communications is celebrating its triumph. The firm already has a
chain of 42 religious stations -- and operates a syndicate that
provides several hundred affiliates with radio fare such as
Oliver North's talk show.
With their industry bloated by mergers and buyouts,
commercial broadcasters are now drooling over frequencies long
reserved as "noncommercial." And they've got plenty of cash to
raid the larder.
As the public-broadcasting newspaper Current reported, the
sale of WDCU "raises concerns that religious broadcasters will
approach university licensees ... with offers more tempting than
they've seen before." Those colleges "are often cash-strapped and
ambivalent about being in the public radio business."
Now a protective wall has shattered. Tom Thomas, a
consultant for public radio's Station Resource Group, sounded
grim when I asked about the WDCU purchase. He called it "the
opening of a pathway between the commercial broadcasting sector
and the noncommercial band."
Public TV stations aren't safe either.
A battle is raging in Pittsburgh over the proposed sale of a
PBS channel to Cornerstone TeleVision -- which blends Christian
fundamentalism with very conservative political messages. On July
7, a Pittsburgh community alliance filed a petition with the
Federal Communications Commission to block the deal.
How can evangelical broadcasters and for-profit firms get
away with grabbing frequencies that have been reserved for public
broadcasting? The schemes vary.
In Washington, where Salem Communications already owns a
major commercial station, Salem's nonprofit arm is buying WDCU
Radio. (The nation's airwaves are saturated with religious
broadcasters, who now claim 1,648 radio stations -- a third of
them noncommercial.)
In Pittsburgh, officials at a pair of public TV stations
plan to swap one of their channels for a commercial frequency now
held by Cornerstone TeleVision. That frequency would then be sold
to a company best known for airing infomercials. Bottom line: One
of Pittsburgh's two public TV stations would vanish.
Across the country, such scenarios are possible because few
public stations are really answerable to the "members" who make
donations.
At pledge time, we're told that these stations belong to us.
They don't.
If a station's hierarchy opts to sell out, the loyal
listeners or viewers who've been sending in contributions have no
legal say in the matter.
National Public Radio and PBS television are not happy about
the specter of some of their affiliates disappearing. But NPR and
PBS have been doing a lot themselves to push the public out of
public broadcasting.
In recent years, on NPR and PBS, brief mentions of big-money
patrons have turned into "enhanced underwriter credits" -- in
other words, commercials.
Meanwhile, a "positive veto" process allows underwriters
like Archer Daniels Midland and General Electric to ante up large
sums for national shows. Without corporate backing, it's tough
for a program to survive.
Even broadcasters that have held the line against corporate
encroachment are at risk. A case in point is the Pacifica
Foundation, which owns listener-supported radio stations heard in
New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
While airing progressive views that are scarce on the radio
dial, Pacifica is running five stations without a democratic role
for the listener-members who send in checks. Pacifica's top
officials have vowed not to sell any of its extremely valuable
frequencies. But the fact is, there's nothing in the law, or in
Pacifica bylaws, to stop them from doing so.
Around the nation, hundreds of public radio and TV outlets
are licensed to budget-crunched colleges or nonprofit
organizations with no real accountability to members who support
the stations.
"Trust us," the public broadcasters say. "And don't forget
to pay your pledge."
But the lack of democracy in public broadcasting is ominous.
_______________________________________________
Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His book "Wizards of
Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream News" (co-authored
with Jeff Cohen) has just been published by Common Courage Press.
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