My friends, I am simply appalled by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision yesterday to allow newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership in major media markets around the country. This egregious ruling, rammed through on a party line vote by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, allows near unfettered consolidation of local media outlets by some of the largest corporations in America. The Democratic commissioners said it right, this is a “Christmas present to the nation’s largest conglomerates.”

The ruling loosened a 32-year-old restriction preventing a single company from owning newspapers, as well as television or radio stations in the twenty largest media markets in America. The ability of the Rupert Murdochs of the world to acquire the available news outlets in a single media market will severely restrict the public’s access to free media by making it extremely difficult for independent or competing voices to be heard.

However, isn’t the very foundation of this country based on exactly the opposite premise, that independent and competing voices are essential to the health and vitality of our democracy?

By permitting a few giant conglomerates to own most of the newspapers, as well as the television or radio stations within a single city, the traffic of information is held hostage to the executives in a few corporate boardrooms. Instead of making decisions about content that is based on fairness, or balance, or localism, or diversity, or democratic principles, decisions about what information the American public hear and see will be made with only the company’s bottom line in mind.

Is that democracy?

The airwaves are owned by the public, not the mega media corporations. The American people deserve information from many different, independent outlets, with diverse, fair coverage from all sides of an issue, and different points of view.

Otherwise, how can we make informed decisions about the many issues that will affect our lives and the direction of our country?

I believe that the future of our very democracy depends on the answer to that question.

In solidarity,

Louise M. Slaughter