I'm watching Glenn Beck's show on Fox right now... I have to chuckle a bit about Beck's freak out over moves by the FCC to diversify media. He views having more owners of media outlets as a consolidation of media by Obama and other "minorities."
Personally, I have felt that corporate media is generally a bad thing. GE, Turner, and Murdoch control virtually the entire media apparatus in our nation. The FCC proposes to breakup the ownership of media in America so that you cannot have one man or company own multiple media outlets in multiple markets.
The FCC would also like to restore journalism to the broadcasting standards prior to the 1980's. In the past, news programs required a balanced discussion so that the viewer was presented with both sides of an issue. News programs were also hosted by journalists - not the glitzy commentators that feed modern day propaganda.
Imagine watching MSNBC and instead of lopsided segments run by Keith Olberman, you'd have a real news anchor in the mold of Chronkite presenting facts without bias or spin.
But I guess that wouldn't be as entertaining as watching Glenn Beck. And I guess that's the point. Media has become a product and is rewarded by appealing to our worst characteristics.
Ted Turner owns CNN, Headline News, Time Magazine, AOL, TBS, etc etc. Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News, Fox, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, New York Post, etc etc. I would love to see GE break up it's NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC units away from each other and away from the parent conglomerate.
A healthy Republic demands a free media. When I say free media, I do not mean a media owned by three people who can craft the message for 300 million.
The day that media is free from control by a corporate oligopoly will be a great day for America.
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