After the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the diversity that was a natural by-product of the variety in locations was gone. The explosion of new owners promised by the backers of the bill turned out to be the exact opposite. Ownership of media, especially radio, concentrated in but a few hands. And the variety of voices that once filled the air became a few voices which pretty much agreed down the line on all issues.
 
Now, instead of local announcers with a view that reflected their region, stations across the country blared Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or some lesser voice that had the same viewpoints as the big names.

And those little snippets of news that even the music stations play on a scheduled basis, were given over to a national service which had an agenda that was reflected in the stories they chose to tell and the stories they chose to ignore.

In a few short years beginning with Ronald Reagan and vastly accelerating in the ‘90s, the magic carpet had become a source of propaganda for the very conservative business owners and their agenda.

But the takeover that began to take hold under Reagan and that came to total fruition in the ‘90s did not happen overnight. Groundwork for these changes were laid in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. A memo to the Chamber of Commerce from future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell listed actions that conservatives needed to do to turn public opinion in their favor.

Powell’s memo was written in 1971. Reading it in light of how the country has been transformed since then is very enlightening.

Please read the Powell memo as homework for next week. We will pick up our discussion there. In a couple weeks I will propose some actions that we can take. Remember, the conservative movement took a long time to build.

Click here to read the Powell memo at Reclaimdemocracy.org