The Great Surprise – The Telecommunications Act of 1996
by Dave Bradley
From the beginning of the Reagan presidency, media policy policing took a hands off approach and slowly media consolidated, mostly in the newspaper sector. The complaint was that in order to compete media must become larger. Late in the Reagan presidency the “fairness doctrine” of equal time for opposing views on controversial issues was eliminated. Disposing of the fairness doctrine allowed for the near unchecked growth of right wing opinion media.The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the Act) was the first major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act in 62 years. Much had changed since 1934, including things like deregulation in the telephone industry, satellite and cable television and the soon to grow internet and cell phone industry. No doubt it was time to look into policy again.
And so, using the same arguments that we had heard before with passage of NAFTA only a couple years before the Act passed with only 5 dissenting votes in the Senate and 16 dissenting votes in the House.
Much like NAFTA this bill was supposed to encourage competition, open up the airwaves and cable media and create an opportunities for greater competition in the telephonic communications field.
When NAFTA was being discussed, a few lone voices warned of how American jobs would be sent to Mexico. “That great sucking sound you hear is American jobs going to Mexico,” as Ross Perot stated it. Sadly Perot was right and the promises of “competition raising standards of living throughout North America,” as backers promised, turned out to be nothing but ephemeral statements.
Just like NAFTA, the Act of 1996 backer’s promises turned out to be nothing but air. Those few who fought passage, claiming the Act would lead to mass media consolidations, were surprised by how quickly consolidation happened. Within just a few years, radio stations, over the air TV stations, cable TV stations and telephone companies were eaten up by the larger, richer companies in a feeding frenzy that resembled a cow falling in the Amazon River stocked with piranha.
Probably the most flagrant example was the growth of Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel (CC) was a small radio company in 1995. Set loose by the Act of 1996, within a couple years CC owned over 500 station throughout the country. CC also got into businesses that went well with radio, such as concert tours, outdoor media and radio syndication companies such as Premiere Radio.
In a few more years, CC owned 10% of the radio stations in the US. But not just the Mom and Pop stations – they owned the biggest stations in the biggest markets. They can use their radio stations to promote their concerts. CC also can use their radio news division and the ‘talent’ from Premiere Radio to greatly influence the views of the American public.
The stable of talent in the Premiere radio subsidiary includes the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Schlessinger and Glen Beck. Also in the Premiere group is Coast to Coast AM. This is a show that seems to be on every 50,000 watt AM station in America these days. If you ever wondered why it is that Limbaugh et. al. are all over the AM dial now you know. The company he works for has 1200 stations throughout the country to put him on.
Next week I will discuss other consolidation in radio and TV after the Act of 1996 and how this affects Iowans. Finally in a couple weeks I will discuss some things which we can do to break the icy grip of media monopoly.
For really good in depth analysis of the fallout from the Telecommunications Act of 1996, may I suggest this: from common cause. WARNING: not for the faint of heart.
~Dave Bradley is a self-described
retired observer of American politics “trying to figure out how we got
so screwed up.” An
Iowa City native currently living in West Liberty, Dave and his wife
Carol have two grown children who “sadly had to leave the state to find
decent paying jobs.”
Dave's
Observations on Iowa Media will appear here on Blog for Iowa Tuesdays.
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