FCC meeting
Two members of the Federal Communications Commission visited Ashvegas Wednesday night to listen to public comment about the fact that the FCC has re-opened consideration of media ownership rules that many believe could lead to greater media consolidation.
Some 400 people filled an AB-Tech auditorium to listen and speak. Along with the two FCC commissioners, a panel of six or seven people representing various media outlets, from Mountain Area Information Networkk to the Asheville Citizen-Times to Clear Channel, attended. The meeting started at 6 and went past 11 as people gave their two-minute opinions.
Guess who wasn’t there. That’s right – WLOS. That didn’t stop people from taking the verbal bats to the local teevee station and its owner, Sinclair. Residents raked Sinclair over the coals for its “That’s the Point” editorials, it’s poorly done local news report unreflective of what’s happening in the community and its blatant political stances (such as the time it refused to air a roll call of the American soliders killed in Iraq.)
Yes, a WLOSer photographer showed up before the meeting started, and rounded up some usual suspects to interview, including Wally Bowen of MAIN and a local resident or two. That photographer left before the town hall meeting started. WLOSers played the story at 11:07 p.m. during its 11 infotainmentcast, with Larry “Gloryhole” Blunt doing some voice work and tossing in some useless bon mots like, “As a citizen in democracy, you have the right to be heard,” and “No company owns the airwaves.”
Clear Channel, which owns about six radio stations in Ashvegas, and Gannett, the corporate parent of the daily newspaper, took some lumps, too. But the corporate ownership fear mongers had no response for solid arguments from both that show that in fact, there is greater diversity and more voices are heard because these outlets exist.
1 Comment
If Wally Bowen and his ilk has its way, cable systems will be forced to shut down entertaining and interesting channels that people actually watch so that they can provide more access for Birgenstockers who want to film their own shows and believe they have a right to be given free air time.
I wonder if Charter, for example, could tell us what the ratings (viewer numbers) are for the "public access" channels already consuming cable space. My guess is you’d need a microscope to read them.