[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H4326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONSOLIDATION OF THE MEDIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw to the attention of 
the Members of the House an action that is about to be taken by the 
Federal Communications Commission. On June 2, the FCC is going to act 
on a ruling which in all likelihood will be passed by a vote of three 
to two, two members of the commission voting against it and three 
voting for it.
  This is a resolution that will continue a process that has been going 
on in our country now for a number of years. That process is the 
consolidation of the media, the means of communication in our Nation, 
the consolidation of that media into the hands of fewer and fewer 
people.
  I think that many people across the country have noticed that in 
towns and small cities all across America, radio stations that used to 
be competing with each other and in doing so paid attention to issues 
that were taking place at the local level, community events, and also 
concentrating on local news that those radio stations now are not 
competing with each other but in fact they are owned by the same entity 
and often they are owned by a corporation that is not even located in 
that city. Often that corporation is located thousands of miles away 
and the broadcasting on those stations is actually piped in from 
distances and has no relationship whatsoever to what is going on in 
that town or in that city.
  This consolidation, I think, is acting contrary to the best interests 
of the country; and I think it is also quite clearly acting contrary to 
the Federal communications law of 1934 which stipulated by the Congress 
that we ought to have in our electronic communications as much 
diversity of opinion as possible and that radio stations and then later 
television stations ought to in large measure reflect what is going on 
in the individual communities where those radio and television stations 
are located.
  Increasingly, that is not the case. Increasingly, we are seeing the 
homogenization of content on radio and on television particularly. We 
are also noticing that radio stations are now beginning to charge 
communications companies and artists to have their artwork, their 
songs, their music played over those radio stations. That in and of 
itself may be running afoul of existing law.
  There is also, of course, a growing concern about the availability of 
actual news and information as it is being handled and consolidated by 
these individual corporations. Suddenly, groups as well as individuals 
across the country are becoming concerned about this phenomenon, and 
those groups are very diverse and represent a very broad spectrum of 
the American people.
  Let me give just a couple of examples. Just recently the National 
Rifle Association became aware of this ruling of the Federal 
Communications Commission which is pending and which will be acted upon 
on June 2. The NRA has come out against this ruling, stipulating that 
they believe that this ruling is not in the best interest of the 
American people, not in the best interest of this Republic and not in 
the best interest of our democratic principles.
  Also, the National Council of Catholic Bishops has come out against 
this ruling. They have come out against it for a slightly different 
reason. They have noticed that as we have seen the consolidation of 
media in America, in other words, radio stations and TV stations owned 
by big corporations and not reflecting the needs of the local 
community, that in addition to that we have seen a dumbing down of the 
programming that is being broadcast over radio and television and that 
often they are observing that the content is becoming lowbrow and 
demeaning and low grade and base, and they are deeply concerned about 
the kind of television broadcasting that young people particularly are 
being exposed to as a result of the fact that more and more of our 
television stations and radio stations are owned by these major 
corporations that have no interest whatsoever in the type of content 
they are broadcasting or the effect that content is having on the 
people in those communities.

                              {time}  1700

  So the National Council of Catholic Bishops has come out opposed to 
this ruling and also the largest organization of television viewers. 
This organization represents about 750,000 television viewers across 
the country and has also come out against this ruling, which is pending 
on the 2nd of June.
  I have introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives, and 
this resolution calls upon the House to notify the FCC that we want 
this process stopped. Already we have 96 cosponsors of this resolution, 
and I am inviting other Members of the House to join us. It is quite 
clear that the action proposed by the FCC is not in the interests of 
the country, and it is being opposed by a growing segment of the 
American community across a very wide spectrum. Please come and join us 
on this resolution.

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