Seize the Airways!

Seize the Airways!

By Betty Yu, Media Action Grassroots Network

If the FCC is sincere about its role in protecting the public’s interest in telecommunications and media markets, then they cannot further relax media ownership rules. The recent proposal on the table threatens to gut the 30-year-old broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership rule that allows one company to own a daily newspaper, two TV stations and up to eight radio stations in one town. We know that today, media ownership is already concentrated in the hands of a few corporations thanks to the loosening of ownership rules by Washington in the last several decades. These corporate media giants not only own the broadcast networks and local stations; but also own the pipeline — the cable and the Internet signals that deliver most of the media content.

Betty Yu coordinates the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) where she manages their national media justice network of over 100 grassroots community organizations, coordinates nine regional chapters and curates the media justice learning community.