COMMENT
Missing Pieces
The Campaign Conversation Ignores Media Ownership
A scenario: Senator John Kerry is nominated for president at the Democratic convention in Boston in July. He wins the White House in November — as a number of national polls, at this moment, indicate is possible. Michael Powell resigns as the Bush-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — a routine departure as part of the transition. Kerry appoints Michael Copps, the senior Democratic commissioner on the FCC, and a logical choice, as chairman. Kerry then chooses a Democrat to fill the seat left empty by Powell, bringing the commission to full strength and resulting in a three-to-two Democratic majority.
What does that scenario imply for the crucial list of media issues before the FCC and Congress? First of all, Copps has been the most outspoken opponent and tireless adversary of Powell’s efforts to loosen rules that permit the sources of information to collect in fewer and fewer hands. As chairman, Copps — more so than his predecessor — would give precedence to the public’s interests over those of giant media corporations. He would work toward reimposing some of the media ownership rules that the Powell commission dismantled. He’d doubtless take a cold-eyed look at the proposed merger of Comcast and Disney, and ventilate the ways in which ABC News — the Peter Jennings newscast, Nightline, 20/20, Primetime Thursday — might suffer in the embrace of so gigantic a media behemoth. And he’d surely seek to impose on TV broadcasters public-interest obligations — news, community service, free airtime for office-seekers — in return for their exploitation of new digital spectrum they’ve been handed free of charge.
Such changes represent a significant shift for the free flow of information, and the underlying issues ought to be on the table. But so far, as this election year moves toward November, they are virtually invisible to Americans. Journalists are not yet asking the candidates tough questions about their policies on media. Granted, media reform may not be as crucial as, say, national security, but like national security, it affects everybody. The spontaneous grassroots movement that blossomed last year in response to the FCC’s deregulatory adventuring — an estimated two million messages of protest — illustrates that more people than ever understand that the shape of media ownership affects the shape of our democracy.
That’s why we hope that Senator Kerry and President Bush will share with us their policies and their principles on the array of media-related issues before the country — under vigorous questioning by journalists.
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