Friday, October 20, 2006
The Internet is Talking Hot about Erie and Duopolies.
Is It Possible That The Erie Times-News Could Be Absorbed Within SJL or NEXSTAR?.....NAH!
(The following is from a release by the progressive (alias liberal) news blog "Common Dreams Newswire" It talks about the duopoly action that the FCC is expected to approve. It uses Erie as one of its examples. What do EMGR readers think?)
New Research Shows FCC Media Ownership Rule Changes Will Harm Local Communities -- and Democracy -- Across Nation
WASHINGTON - October 19 - Local communities across the nation will be harmed, and have fewer choices for news and views, if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loosens key limits on media ownership, according to new research conducted by the Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC), a coalition of national and local groups representing millions of Americans.
Research was released today by MDC member organizations in coordinated actions in the following twelve states: California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, and Maine. The research finds that in every one of those states, most citizens already live in highly concentrated media markets with few choices for news and views. More media mergers in these highly concentrated markets will reduce already insufficient local news coverage and eliminate diverse voices and viewpoints and, in every case, exceed US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines. Yet these mergers would be approved by the FCC under its proposed new rules with "no questions asked."
"If Americans lose access to views and news, media moguls may grow richer, but America's democracy will be poorer," says Chellie Pingree, President of Common Cause, an MDC member organization. "America's democracy works best when citizens have access to a wide diversity of views and plenty of local news. These are two of our nation's most important media policy goals."
"It is simply not acceptable that the Federal Communications Commission would approve a local media merger with 'no questions asked,' when that same merger exceeds US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines," says Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal and international policy at Consumers Union, another MDC member. "A healthy democracy requires that local media outlets compete with each other, not consolidate, to ensure the public has access to diverse and independent sources of news and opinion. The FCC's proposed rules are bad for consumers and bad for democracy."
"Media moguls plan to combine local broadcasting with print, cable and telecommunications outlets to create conglomerates with unprecedented power over what we see, hear and read. This report documents that if the FCC blesses these moguls' plans, they will ultimately control which voices are heard -- and which are silenced -- across America," adds Ben Scott, Policy Director of Free Press, another MDC member.
"The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that further relaxation or elimination of media ownership limits by the FCC is not in the public interest," says study author Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America, another MDC member. "This research, taken together with the FCC's own research that it suppressed, proves that media concentration in local markets, consolidation into national chains, and conglomeration across media types all harm localism and diversity in local news markets. Local TV stations and local daily newspapers continue to be the dominant sources of local news and the most influential by far. The Internet is not a significant source of local news. In fact, the few who go online for local news frequently surf to the web sites of the local TV station or the local daily newspaper. The misguided rules the FCC proposed are simply out of touch with these facts."
"Media and Democracy Coalition member organizations in a dozen states today released this research as part of the Coalition's campaign to sound the alarm to citizens in local communities about the FCC's misguided proposed rules," says Coalition Campaign Coordinator Henry DeSio. "In 2003, the FCC received over three million public comments opposing its attempt to increase media concentration. This year, from Florida to Washington to Maine to California, Coalition members are again urging all Americans to take action, and file comments at the FCC opposing its latest dangerous effort to loosen crucial media ownership limits."
These are just a few examples of what could happen in large and small media markets across the country under the FCC's proposal to loosen media ownership limits:
Sacramento is the capital of California, the largest state in the nation, with a gross domestic product larger than Brazil, Canada, or Spain. In Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee, the dominant local newspaper, could suddenly merge with any of the top TV stations: KCRA, KXTV, KOVR or KTXL.
In Dallas, a large metropolitan market and the least concentrated of the three Texas markets studied, The Dallas Morning News, the dominant newspaper in the market, could suddenly merge with KDFW, KXAS, KTVT or KXAS, the top TV stations.
Erie, Pennsylvania is a smaller media market that is already highly concentrated, like most smaller markets studied. In Erie, the lone major newspaper, the Erie-Times News, could suddenly merge with either of the top local TV stations: WJET, WICU, or WSEE.
All of these resulting combinations exceed US Dept. of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines on market concentration and power. Yet they would all be allowed under the FCC's proposed new rules with "no questions asked."
This MDC study is part of the Coalition's broader response to the FCC's proposed changes to its media ownership rules. In 2003, the FCC had voted to weaken these rules, but its action was rejected by the Philadelphia-based U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in an action brought by Coalition member Prometheus Radio Project of Philadelphia.
"Bigger, fewer media outlets with less interest in local news would be bad for Pennsylvania citizens trying to decide if we have effective local government and good corporate citizens," says Beth McConnell of Philadelphia-based PennPIRG, another MDC member, commenting on the study's findings in her state. "If the FCC proposal allowing our biggest local newspapers to merge with our biggest local TV stations goes forward, Pennsylvania citizens will end up getting inadequate choices for news and viewpoints in a market that already ranks as too-concentrated based on Department of Justice guidelines."
"We need more, not fewer media outlets in California competing in the marketplace of news and ideas to help guarantee that our communities go and grow," adds Sydney Levy of Oakland-based Media Alliance, another MDC member. "If the FCC allows these mergers, it will be harder for citizens to even learn about, let alone respond to, local issues such as crime, schools and traffic."
More information about the Coalition, its members, as well as these research reports, is available at the Coalition's website, http://www.media-democracy.net.
Congress passed a law on February 1, 2006, setting a final deadline for the DTV transition of February 17, 2009. Most television stations will continue broadcasting both analog and digital programming until February 17, 2009, when all analog broadcasting will stop.." FCC http://www.dtv.gov/
NBC expected not to order new episodes of Studio 60. According to the trades, it is underperforming.
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7 comments:
I thought the Times already WAS absorbed into SJL. The number of times John Dudley or Dave Richards is on WICU had me thinking they all work for the same company!
I hope NBC doesn't pull the plug on "Studio 60" it's one of my favorite shows.
Those appearances by John and David are what's known as cross media promotion. It serves the interest of both the station and the newspaper to do it. However, I get your drift.
The truth is that neither NEXSTAR nor SJL have any other ties in cross media interests and I seriously doubt it would start in Erie, PA.
The Erie newspaper is already a minority owner of the cable company that 'serves' Erie County.
Residents of the city don't get the Pennsylvania Cable Network, something like a state version of C-SPAN, that covers the state senate and house. I've wondered for the years if the reason they didn't carry it was so that we'd have to buy a paper to know what our elected reps are doing.
anonymous 1 commented about erie times staffers appearing frequently on tv12 and joked that they worked for the same company. but many of the news stories on the newspaper's website goerie.com include links to click on in order to watch the wjet-tv video. i would think that there is some cozy arrangement in place between nexstar and erie times already although not necessarily any kind of joint ownership yet.
Again...it is not unusal in any community to see a newspaper cross promote with one or more stations. I wouldn't read anything into it other than solid marketing efforts on both their parts.
Still, though, even the possibility of a lackluster newspaper merging with one of Erie's underperforming TV channels is cause for concern. The FCC should not allow such a possibility.
Imagine how worse the Times would become then. I don't even want to imagine that.
This article has a pretty shrill tone to it. "the Erie-Times News, could suddenly merge"? Forty years ago they owned WSEE, and they opted out of the TV business. I do believe that multiple ownership has been bad for the business in terms of different voices being heard, and fewer jobs available locally. But it has helped, esp. in radio, in keeping operators in the black and rates up. Think back to pre-1996: possibly half of the owners of radio stations consistently lost money in Erie...the national number was around 40%.
I think this whole discussion is about figuring out what to do during this transition from a single-point/gate-keeper model in information distribution to a multi-point/consumer 2.0 model. Within the next 10 years, hopefully there will be multiple sources for local news via wireless internet, some solely generated by the consumers. Podcasts, blogs, YouTube posts will be in their next generation, and radio and TV will be competing for those eyes and ears with the masses.
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