Press Release
Harrisburg Speaks Out for Local Media, Against Consolidation
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- More than 300 people packed Harrisburg's Whitaker Center for Science and Arts today to testify about potentially sweeping changes to the nation's media ownership rules. Despite little advance public notice and an early-morning start, nearly 150 concerned citizens and industry representatives spoke for nearly five hours about how media conglomerates are serving local communities.
"Even when the FCC doesn't tell people where the hearing will be until the last minute or holds it at the crack of dawn, nobody wants more media consolidation," said Amanda Ballantyne, field organizer of Free Press. "Whether it's in Nashville, Los Angeles or Harrisburg, people want more coverage of local issues, more serious journalism, more local music, and more diverse viewpoints on the public airwaves. They don't want cookie-cutter content from a few faraway conglomerates."
Local TV broadcasters dispatched camera crews and numerous employees to speak at the event, but dozens more people took time off their jobs and traveled from as far away as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore to offer their two minutes of testimony.
"The larger a media outlet gets, the further the owners are from the community it claims to serve," testified Bishop Benjamin Peterson, senior pastor of Greater Bible Way Temple, speaking on a panel at the start of the event. "The further from the community, the more out of touch the owners are to the issues, cultures and challenges that must be addressed. I am concerned that greater media consolidation will silence voices that must be heard, will contribute to greater isolation of the poor and disenfranchised, and will make it easier for the public and policymakers to turn a blind eye to the problems facing neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and beyond."
A broad-based coalition of local and national groups worked to bring out the public to the Harrisburg event. They included the Communications Workers of America, Common Cause, Consumers Union, Free Press, Media Tank, Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, The Newspaper Guild, PennPIRG Education Fund, Pennsylvania NOW, Prometheus Radio Project, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc., and U.S. PIRG.
The FCC is currently reviewing longstanding media ownership rules, including the limits on the number of television and radio stations a company can own in one area and the prohibition on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership -- which prevents companies from owning a television or radio station and the major daily newspaper in most markets.
"The FCC should not be embracing policies that will further the creation of media oligopolies," said Beth McConnell, director of the PennPIRG Education Fund. "Instead, the FCC should be considering ways to enhance localism and diversity of ownership. A marketplace of ideas with only one or two ideas for sale isn't competitive. And as we heard time and time again today, it's boring and repetitive and uninspiring. Pennsylvania and all of America deserves better."
To read more about the official FCC public hearing in Harrisburg, visit www.stopbigmedia.com/=harrisburg
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"Even when the FCC doesn't tell people where the hearing will be until the last minute or holds it at the crack of dawn, nobody wants more media consolidation," said Amanda Ballantyne, field organizer of Free Press. "Whether it's in Nashville, Los Angeles or Harrisburg, people want more coverage of local issues, more serious journalism, more local music, and more diverse viewpoints on the public airwaves. They don't want cookie-cutter content from a few faraway conglomerates."
Local TV broadcasters dispatched camera crews and numerous employees to speak at the event, but dozens more people took time off their jobs and traveled from as far away as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore to offer their two minutes of testimony.
"The larger a media outlet gets, the further the owners are from the community it claims to serve," testified Bishop Benjamin Peterson, senior pastor of Greater Bible Way Temple, speaking on a panel at the start of the event. "The further from the community, the more out of touch the owners are to the issues, cultures and challenges that must be addressed. I am concerned that greater media consolidation will silence voices that must be heard, will contribute to greater isolation of the poor and disenfranchised, and will make it easier for the public and policymakers to turn a blind eye to the problems facing neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and beyond."
A broad-based coalition of local and national groups worked to bring out the public to the Harrisburg event. They included the Communications Workers of America, Common Cause, Consumers Union, Free Press, Media Tank, Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, The Newspaper Guild, PennPIRG Education Fund, Pennsylvania NOW, Prometheus Radio Project, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc., and U.S. PIRG.
The FCC is currently reviewing longstanding media ownership rules, including the limits on the number of television and radio stations a company can own in one area and the prohibition on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership -- which prevents companies from owning a television or radio station and the major daily newspaper in most markets.
"The FCC should not be embracing policies that will further the creation of media oligopolies," said Beth McConnell, director of the PennPIRG Education Fund. "Instead, the FCC should be considering ways to enhance localism and diversity of ownership. A marketplace of ideas with only one or two ideas for sale isn't competitive. And as we heard time and time again today, it's boring and repetitive and uninspiring. Pennsylvania and all of America deserves better."
To read more about the official FCC public hearing in Harrisburg, visit www.stopbigmedia.com/=harrisburg
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