Jim Hightower

You’ve got to love the oh-so-soothing language that government and corporations use when they join hands to run roughshod over the public interest.

Take the recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to let huge media conglomerates grab even greater control than they now have over the public’s sources of news and discourse. FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, who is a former lawyer for media corporations, led the charge on behalf of the Rupert Murdochs to increase oligarchic control. Yet, rather than admit to the raw power play that was afoot, Martin and his corporate backers said that they were merely “relaxing” some “archaic” rules that have “restricted” the “efficiencies” of consolidation.

Ah, yes, they’re simply giving our public media system a relaxing backrub. I feel better already, don’t you?

Oh, Tut-tut, cooed the chairman, this is a “minor loosening” of the regulations. My proposal, he insisted, allows a city’s daily newspaper and broadcast outlets to merge in only the 20 biggest markets, and even then under limited conditions.

That’s very comforting – but don’t you dare relax until you take a peek at the gaping loopholes in Martin’s new rule. These allow the FCC to grant “waivers” so the conglomerates can take charge in media markets of all sizes. As for those limited conditions, a commissioner who opposes Martin’s scheme calls them “about as tough as a bowl of Jell-O.”

The chairman rushed his “relaxation rule” through the FCC on a 3-2 vote, after abbreviating the normal 90-day public comment period to a quick 28 days. The whole thing is a sham – made worse by the fact that the FCC action would dangerously reduce media diversity and democracy.

Still, this agency's sham rule can be undone. To support a grassroots effort to get congress to revoke the rule, go to www.stopbigmedia.com.