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CNN Saturday Morning News
FCC Will Vote on a Key Change in Media Ownership Rules
Aired May 31, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: On Monday the Federal Commissions Communication will vote on a key change in media ownership rules which could change the way you watch and read about the world. Among the changes, a single group would be able to own enough television stations to cover 45 percent of the nation. Now, that's up from 35 percent.
Also, media companies would be able to own newspapers and multiple TV stations in the same city.
CNN's Aaron Brown has more on the issues, the changes, and the opposition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a battle that has galvanized the left...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The proposed changes in the ownership rules are bad news for people in this country.
BROWN: ... and the right as well.
BRENT BOZELL, PARENTS' TELEVISION COUNCIL: When all of us are united on an issue, then one of two things has happened. Either the earth has spun off its axis and we have all lost our minds, or there is universal support for a concept.
BROWN: What's at stake, they believe, is how millions of Americans will receive their news and information, whether a relative handful of companies will be able to reach as much as 45 percent of U.S. television homes through ownership of television and radio stations across the country.
DAVID FIELD, CEO, ENTRECOM RADIO: We still fight tooth and nail for audience, and there are still sufficient number of competitors in each market that the competition that's important in our society has prevailed.
BROWN: The Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, is to decide on Monday whether the same company can own even more media outlets, sometimes in the same city or town than they already do. At present, the cap on that reach is 35 percent of U.S. households. The FCC, its chairman says, is worried, but... MICHAEL POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FCC: I think we're very concerned about media consolidation. It's not true to say that we're not. If we weren't, I think we proposing the elimination of any cap whatsoever, or the kinds of restriction, and we'd rely on antitrust authorities, like we do for every other sector of the economy other than the media.
BROWN: Chairman Powell, the son of the secretary of state, is a Republican, as are two others on the five-member FCC, so the betting is that the expansion of ownership will be approved. But some longtime Republican allies are upset. The National Rifle Association, for one, fears that some in charge in big media corporations are too liberal. The new rules, it said, would concentrate media power in the hands of, quote, "a half a dozen antigun zealots in the top echelons of the media industry."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NRA TV COMMERCIAL)
ANNOUNCER: So on June 2, Republicans on the FCC plan to get rid of an important regulation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Not all of those owners are liberals, of course. There's concern about conservative media titans, none larger than Rupert Murdoch, who own spot television, among other media outlets.
And entrepreneurs like Ted Turner, who founded CNN, says the proposal will, in effect, prevent smaller competitors from even getting into broadcasting in the first place.
WADE HENDERSON, LEADERSHIP COUNCIL ON CIVIL RIGHTS: A vibrant democracy is best served by media outlets, especially television and radio, where Americans get most of their views, that are not owned by a handful of giant corporations.
BROWN: Tens of thousands of letters have arrived at the FCC, mostly objections to the proposed rules, protesting phone calls have tied up comment lines, and a nonpartisan interest group says FCC officials have met privately more than 70 times with some of the nation's top broadcasters, many of whom have pressed for the new rules, but only five times with consumer groups who don't want them.
A compromise on some of the smaller issues seems likely, but not, it seems, on the main one.
JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN (D), FCC COMMISSIONER: We may be on the verge of making the most widely unpopular decision that the FCC has ever dared to make.
BROWN: Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: While the changes are likely to be approved on Monday, that does not mean the debate will end. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
RICHARD DREYFUSS, ACTOR: There are a couple things being said, that profit, private interest profit, is somehow more important than the stated mandates of the FCC about public interest, which is an arguable point, at least.
And also, I think that this kind of thing will only develop its appropriate outrage after it's been, you know, set in place. But there will be, even if it's late, a real outrage at this one, because this one changes the way we live, breathe, and think.
ADAM THIERER, THE CATO INSTITUTE: We can have more competition through a marketplace of ideas and choices. You know, consumers are going to demand choice out of their -- out of the suppliers of information and news. And frankly, there's not going to be a monopolization of information or entertainment in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 31, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: On Monday the Federal Commissions Communication will vote on a key change in media ownership rules which could change the way you watch and read about the world. Among the changes, a single group would be able to own enough television stations to cover 45 percent of the nation. Now, that's up from 35 percent.
Also, media companies would be able to own newspapers and multiple TV stations in the same city.
CNN's Aaron Brown has more on the issues, the changes, and the opposition.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a battle that has galvanized the left...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The proposed changes in the ownership rules are bad news for people in this country.
BROWN: ... and the right as well.
BRENT BOZELL, PARENTS' TELEVISION COUNCIL: When all of us are united on an issue, then one of two things has happened. Either the earth has spun off its axis and we have all lost our minds, or there is universal support for a concept.
BROWN: What's at stake, they believe, is how millions of Americans will receive their news and information, whether a relative handful of companies will be able to reach as much as 45 percent of U.S. television homes through ownership of television and radio stations across the country.
DAVID FIELD, CEO, ENTRECOM RADIO: We still fight tooth and nail for audience, and there are still sufficient number of competitors in each market that the competition that's important in our society has prevailed.
BROWN: The Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, is to decide on Monday whether the same company can own even more media outlets, sometimes in the same city or town than they already do. At present, the cap on that reach is 35 percent of U.S. households. The FCC, its chairman says, is worried, but... MICHAEL POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FCC: I think we're very concerned about media consolidation. It's not true to say that we're not. If we weren't, I think we proposing the elimination of any cap whatsoever, or the kinds of restriction, and we'd rely on antitrust authorities, like we do for every other sector of the economy other than the media.
BROWN: Chairman Powell, the son of the secretary of state, is a Republican, as are two others on the five-member FCC, so the betting is that the expansion of ownership will be approved. But some longtime Republican allies are upset. The National Rifle Association, for one, fears that some in charge in big media corporations are too liberal. The new rules, it said, would concentrate media power in the hands of, quote, "a half a dozen antigun zealots in the top echelons of the media industry."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NRA TV COMMERCIAL)
ANNOUNCER: So on June 2, Republicans on the FCC plan to get rid of an important regulation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Not all of those owners are liberals, of course. There's concern about conservative media titans, none larger than Rupert Murdoch, who own spot television, among other media outlets.
And entrepreneurs like Ted Turner, who founded CNN, says the proposal will, in effect, prevent smaller competitors from even getting into broadcasting in the first place.
WADE HENDERSON, LEADERSHIP COUNCIL ON CIVIL RIGHTS: A vibrant democracy is best served by media outlets, especially television and radio, where Americans get most of their views, that are not owned by a handful of giant corporations.
BROWN: Tens of thousands of letters have arrived at the FCC, mostly objections to the proposed rules, protesting phone calls have tied up comment lines, and a nonpartisan interest group says FCC officials have met privately more than 70 times with some of the nation's top broadcasters, many of whom have pressed for the new rules, but only five times with consumer groups who don't want them.
A compromise on some of the smaller issues seems likely, but not, it seems, on the main one.
JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN (D), FCC COMMISSIONER: We may be on the verge of making the most widely unpopular decision that the FCC has ever dared to make.
BROWN: Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: While the changes are likely to be approved on Monday, that does not mean the debate will end. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
RICHARD DREYFUSS, ACTOR: There are a couple things being said, that profit, private interest profit, is somehow more important than the stated mandates of the FCC about public interest, which is an arguable point, at least.
And also, I think that this kind of thing will only develop its appropriate outrage after it's been, you know, set in place. But there will be, even if it's late, a real outrage at this one, because this one changes the way we live, breathe, and think.
ADAM THIERER, THE CATO INSTITUTE: We can have more competition through a marketplace of ideas and choices. You know, consumers are going to demand choice out of their -- out of the suppliers of information and news. And frankly, there's not going to be a monopolization of information or entertainment in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
