Page 273 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

| Med a Reform

sToP Big mEDia CoaLiTion
In response to a new round of FCC-proposed ownership law changes, media
reformers created the Stop Big Media Coalition in 2006. The coalition is actively
working to educate the general public about the impact of the ownership rule
changes, similar to the campaign of 2003. This round of rule changes includes
removal of ownership restrictions on newspapers and television stations. Media
reform experts predict that if the rules are enacted, one company could own the
major daily newspaper, eight radio stations, and three television stations in the
same town; thus consolidating the flow of local political and cultural informa-
tion through one corporation. The FCC and major media corporations state that
consolidation will not hurt the diversity of viewpoints available because people
can access information via the Internet. Additionally, the U.S. television spec-
trum, through which television is broadcast, is transitioning to a digital system,
which allows television stations to broadcast on multiple channels in just one an-
alog (nondigital) station. However, the ownership rule changes will also permit
one owner to broadcast on 12 to 18 digital channels. In the fall of 2006, media
reform research revealed that despite work to increase diversity in ownership of
television stations over the last 20 years, women, who comprise 51 percent of the
U.S. population, own less than 5 percent of all commercial television stations;
and minorities, who comprise 33 percent of the U.S. population, own less than
4 percent of all commercial television stations.
In addition to organizing in response to the proposed ownership rule changes
as well as Internet regulation policies, media reformers are actively working to
ensure that public broadcasting systems like PBS and National Public Radio are
adequately funded by the U.S. government. Media reformers are also working
to expand the number of community media outlets, like low power FM radio
stations, which broadcast at very low wattage. Finally, media reformers continue
to strengthen networks and collaborative strategies in order to expand public
interest and concern over the future of democratic media systems.

see also Alternative Media in the United States; Communication Rights in a
Global Context; Conglomeration and Media Monopolies; Digital Divide; Hyper-
commercialism; Media and the Crisis of Values; Media Literacy; Media Watch
Groups; National Public Radio; Net Neutrality; Public Access Television; Public
Broadcasting Service; Piracy and Intellectual Property; Pirate Radio; Regulating
the Airwaves; Surveillance and Privacy; Video News Releases.

Further reading: Andersen, Robin, and Lance Strate, eds. Critical Studies in Media Com-
mercialism. London: Oxford University Press, 2000; Bagdikian, Ben H. The New Media
Monopoly. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004; Byerly, Carolyn M., and Karen Ross. Women and
Media: A Critical Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2006; Cohen, Elliot D., ed. News
Incorporated: Corporate Media Ownership and Its Threat to Democracy. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 2005; Goodman, Amy. Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerlead-
ers, and the People Who Fight Back. New York: Hyperion, 2006; Halleck, DeeDee. Hand-
Held Visions: The Impossible Possibilities of Community Media. New York: Fordham
University Press, 2002; Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Con-
sent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, 2nd ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 2002;