[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 3, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H4796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FCC MEDIA OWNERSHIP DECISION

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice 
my concerns over the FCC's decision to relax media ownership rules. The 
new regulations would allow a single company to own 45 percent of media 
that reaches United States households, instead of the current 35 
percent.
  As it stands now, there are only a handful of media companies that we 
get to see, that we see, that we hear, and that we can read. When we do 
this, there will be an even smaller number of media companies owning a 
larger share of the media market.

                              {time}  1215

  And that moves us dangerously close to a monopoly-like situation in 
the mass media business. One of the greatest things about our country 
is freedom of press and freedom of speech. That is what our 
Constitution has in it. Under these new regulations, we are moving 
toward limiting the information that citizens get to see because there 
will be fewer points of view brought forward because there are fewer 
companies. Congress should take a closer look at this.

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