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Interesting AP story on the Congressional reaction to the FCC ruling on Monday. Two things toward the bottom are worth noting.
First, Mike Powell inadvertently points to the real source of our current problem, the Communications Act of 1996:
FCC Chairman Michael Powell defended his agency's work, saying the new rules will improve competition and diversity in the media industry. Powell said that if Congress is displeased with the decision, it should reconsider the responsibility it has given his agency.
Congress "is the people's institution much more dramatically than the FCC is," Powell said. "If there are rules that should be inviolate, that are so important to our sense of democracy, then it is my strong belief that they should be statutory rules. They should not be rules conferred to a regulatory body with three to five unelected officials."
...
A 1996 law requires the FCC to study the rules every two years and repeal or modify regulations determined to be no longer in the public interest.
Powell said that schedule strains his agency's resources and causes harmful uncertainty in the industry. He said a five-year review period would be better.
This quote from Fritz Hollings, who stands firmly behind the 'few large businesses' of the RIAA, caused me to blink twice:
South Carolina Sen. Ernest Hollings, the committee's ranking Democrat, is among those who want to push back the national ownership limit. He accused Powell of using "spin and fraud" to defend deregulation.
"Broadcast media is not just another appliance. It's not a toaster with pictures," he said. "The free flow of diverse and antagonistic views cannot be guarded if a few large businesses control all the information across every medium."
An overhaul of the Communications Act which will defend the public (and creators') interest is what is really needed to begin the US media reform. This law (actually a series of amendments to the Communications Act of 1934) was drafted by the big telecom companies in Newt Gingrich's office, and signed by Bill Clinton. The two corporate parties worked together to lay the basis for this consolidation. The solution is not to reinstate the party out of power.
4:23:13 PM 
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