Just about the time you start to lose hope that anything good at all can happen while the present administration is in power, something good happens to make you at least consider restoring your faith in our system of government.

I'm of course referring to the decisive vote in the Senate to overturn the vast deregulation scheme that Michael Powell and the FCC tried to foist upon all of us. I think that they thought they could sneak this thing in through the back door while no one was paying much attention, but fortunately the people of this country were in fact paying attention. So we all oughta high-five each other or something.

It's already been discussed at some length in this magazine what the FCC was trying to do, but it bears repeating nonetheless. In essence, Michael Powell and the other Republicans on the Board of the FCC strong-armed the Commission into attempting to dramatically roll back regulations regarding ownership of media outlets. The provisions they proposed would have allowed one corporation to own nearly half of the television stations, radio stations and newspapers in a city. This should be a frightening prospect for you. Let me paint you a little picture.

Let's say you live in an average-sized city in the United States of America. Such a city is the center of what is known in the Media as an Area of Dominant Influence (ADI). The city's ADI is always much larger in terms of both population and geography than the city itself. The ADI encompasses all of the suburbs and exurbs, as well as all the surrounding towns and communities. So an average-sized ADI would probably be about a million to a million-and-a-half people. The reason it's called an Area of Dominant Influence is that within that area, the people have pretty much the same set of choices in local tv stations, radio stations and newspapers. There are 6-10 television stations, 10-30 radio stations and 2-4 newspapers.

Now let's take a look at a company like Clear Channel, which was smacking its greedy chops and eyeing ADIs all over the country. There are probably already a frightening number of things in your town right now that are under the control of Clear Channel. Though they started out with radio stations, they branched out to television a few years back, and have been gobbling up tv stations ever since. Just imagine if Clear Channel were to own two of the tv stations in your town? Why not THREE?? And what if they, in their infinite corporate wisdom, were to decide that it was simply more trouble than it was worth to keep running all those separate newsrooms. Why not consolidate? Save money AND give viewers the best newscast possible. This is, of course, what they would tell you. "We've put together the finest reporters, photographers, producers, technicians and news anchors to give you the best news you'll ever get."

What viewers get are fewer choices for where they can get information about what's going on in their own city. And a lot of good people get pink slips for no good reason. The only ones with anything to gain from this sort of rollback are gigantic corporations. If you do any traveling at all, you can't help but notice that no matter where you go, the newscasts look an awful lot like the news in your town. Same music, same graphics, same reporters for national stories. This homogenization would only get worse if the FCC and the Bush administration get their way.

You know how you've always been told to keep a battery-operated radio in the house, so you can keep track of events in emergency situations when your power is out? Let's say you live in a somewhat smaller than average city. One day, there's a huge toxic chemical spill in your town. You smell something nasty, and you can see a cloud rising above the city. You try to call 911, but the lines are tied up; everyone else is calling about it, too. So you remember your trusty radio and turn it on. What do you hear? Why it's syndicated programming from your good friends at Clear Channel, of course, providing you with the highest-quality antagonism, yelling and vitriol from coast to coast. No one's actually at the radio station, which is just an automated "repeater" of Clear Channel programming. Something very much like this has already happened in Minot, North Dakota. I don't know if anyone died because of the incident there, but if they did, I'm sure there wouldn't have been a peep out of Clear Channel. They're much too busy counting profits to even be concerned about "collateral damage."

If you think I'm picking on Clear Channel unnecessarily, you may be right. There are other media megaliths out there. I even work for one of them--Hearst. I only pick on Clear Channel the most because they are, by a far, far sight, the most egregious of them all. They have gobbled up broadcasting properties like pigs at a trough. In market after market, all over the country, Clear Channel has gone to the very limits of the FCC's already-too-lax ownership policies. Giving them practically carte blanche to dominate even more in these markets would be a tragedy.

And just imagine the sort of monstrosity that would be arriving on your front porch in the morning when Clear Channel decides to foray into the newspaper publishing business! The mind reels, then recoils in horror.

I hate to break it to you, folks, but it's still an uphill battle. Now the Resolution goes from the Senate to the Republican-controlled House, and once again you're going to have to let your Representative in Congress know how you feel about this. I can't stress enough the importance of your doing this. Obviously, the will of their constituents made all but two Democrats and many Republicans as well in the Senate give Powell a stern rebuke. But a truly decisive vote in the House would make a presidential veto less likely.

[President George W. Bush greets Verizon Chairman and Co-CEO Charles Lee. Between Lee and Bush is Michael Powell.]

That's right. You heard right. Bush has threatened to veto the legislation, should it come to his desk, proving once again that the will of the majority of the people means nothing at all to him. Some political insiders say that he wouldn't waste his first veto on something like this, but political insiders have been wrong before. Ralph Nader has referred to Bush as "a corporation disguised as a human being," and I certainly wouldn't wish to argue that with him. So I would say that all bets are off when it comes to whether or not he would actually use the veto. But if he does, it takes a two-thirds majority to override it, and it doesn't look like we have the horses to beat that one. For now, the only thing keeping the new deregulations from taking effect is a Circuit Court ruling in Philadelphia. That comes up for review on November 5, and all I can say is keep your fingers crossed.

But uncross them long enough to WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPERSON!!!

George Herbert Walker Bush was a war hero. He won the presidency decisively, and while president, tried his best to be statesmanlike. Though I didn't agree with much that he did, I think he tried to do what he believed was right more often than not while he was in office. His son, the frat boy currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., stole the presidency. To avoid any possibility that he might have to go to Vietnam--Oh, yeah! like there was any chance at all that he would be sent to Vietnam--he had his Poppy move him to the head of the list to get into the Texas Air National Guard, from which he spent a year AWOL. While in office, he has consistently acted against the best interests of the American people, acted in the interests of corporations and his cronies, and shamelessly and cynically exploited the horrific events of 9/11.

Colin Powell was a man who started life with almost nothing. As a person of color, he had much adversity to overcome, but his intellect and dignity were too great to be overlooked. As a career soldier, he rose through the ranks to become a General, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and then Secretary of State. His son, Michael Powell, the smug Chairman of the Board of the FCC, wants you to have little or no diversity in the entertainment and information available to you.

When it comes to this Administration, the apple falls very far from the tree indeed.

Bush's mendacity and lack of respect for majority rule, of course, go far beyond simply wanting to ruin broadcasting. That subject is beyond the scope of what this article was really supposed to be about, though. Suffice to say that Dubya is a friend to industry, big or small. Well, not small, really. But he'll wage a war and kill thousands of innocent people to make corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton richer.

However, let's not lose sight of the principle point here. The system worked!! People let their Senators know how they felt, and in response the Senate passed along the will of the people. This is the way that our system of representative democracy is supposed to work. So there's hope. Isn't there?

I sure hope so.

Don't forget to write your Congressperson!

(C) 2003 - Karl Cable