Stop Big Media

I have just been listening to Chris Proctor - beautiful music - do you know who he is? No, I didn't think so. Why? Because commercial radio isn't about informing and educating the public it's about advertising dollars and market share. Our airways are a cultural wasteland. Is America really that obsessed with Paris Hilton are we the sum total of our lowest common denominator? A bigger portion of the airwaves should be set aside for public radio so information and talent not consolidated by the big three media powers has a voice. It's good for the country it's good for the culture and in keeping with the vision of free speech and the right to assemble given to us by our Constitution.

The right to assemble you might ask? Yes the right to assemble. Because of the consolidation of our airwaves, print, radio and television into three or four huge conglomerations we have homogenized society. The assembly of local talent, concerns and voices aren't heard they have no outlet. This country is way too big to have Infinity or Murdoch telling everyone what to think, what to listen to. It's a real Orwellian nightmare come true. The FCC needs to stop consolidating and go back to healthy regional markets. They need to open up more bandwidth to community, college and public radio stations. Everyone in D.C. listens to NPR anyway and not the over-homogenized, narrowly focused widest aiming capture of markets which radio and television have become. The only group with that goal is the advertising industry and the companies they lavish their money on.

Our airways are a part of our national heritage and not the domain of a few big corporations. That's just un-American. Media, radio, television and print should be about the news and celebrate the diversity of culture that is the bedrock of our society. Small business is the backbone of our country that is a Ronald Regan quote. The FCC needs to stop listening to and servicing big consolidated corporations and serve the people of this country in an open, free and diverse way that reflects who we are. The FCC is not in existence to be the business partners of Murdoch and the big ad firms. Why should we the tax payers care to limit our lives to their narrow views. Our government shouldn't care and strive to enhance the individual market share of a few very rich, very powerful megalomaniacs so they can make more money and drive all that is good, rich and diverse into oblivion.

Dissent of opinion is the healthy symptom of a thriving democracy. Diversity is its corner stone. Freedom is to be heard and is what it needs. More consolidation equals less freedom and drops the power to corrupt through propaganda into the control of too few hands. No, in order to protect our democracy and invigorate, and enhance our citizenry we need to have more regional, local and advertising free radio, print and television. At the very least level the playing field for the Chris Proctor's of the world trying to enrich, enhance and build more of that "backbone" Ronald Regan was talking about. Murdoch and Infinity don't need tax payer support. The FCC is not in business to make sure they maximize their profits and obliterate what's left of our collective, separete and regional cultures. It is the diversity that enhances our quality of life and not another McDonalds commercial.