Iowa in the Age of Consolidated Media

One of the most often repeated stories of the effects of national consolidation in media happened to one of our neighbors, North Dakota. On January 18th, 2002 a train derailment in Minot caused a huge anhydrous ammonia spill creating a toxic cloud over Minot.

When police were alerted, they attempted to contact the local major radio station to broadcast an alert to the population. But there was no one at the station. Minot’s six major radio stations had been bought up by Clear Channel (CC) in the feeding frenzy that followed the signing of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. While there is some confusion about what happened next, one thing is sure. The emergency alert station was unmanned. The story of the Minot ammonia spill has become the stuff of legend. It is often cited as what happens when a non-local, unfeeling corporation takes over the local media. For a good analysis read this Democracy Now! interview: 911 calls in North Dakota 

At the time of the incident Clear Channel owned over 1200 radio stations in the US plus 240 stations internationally. But CC is not the only player. Look at any form of mass communication and there are usually not more than 5 players owning nearly all outlets.

In radio, Clear Channel owns about 1200 (though they recently sold some of their non-performers); Cumulus owns about 400. And guess what?  Bain Capital (Mitt Romney) has a major stake in both companies.  And while we tend to think in terms of commercial radio, let us not forget that the recent rise of Christian radio has overtaken another huge chunk of broadcasting space. Best estimate I could find was around 800 stations of various styles of Christian groups.

One last category that many don’t think of as a problem would be those owned by public entities and the like that carry National Public Radio. While most people would not think of a public radio as a problem, they have acted like major corporations in trying to block access to radio by local groups.

So here in the heartland we get a lot of right wing talk on our major AM stations, mostly music on the commercial side of FM that is selected for us by one of two companies, any number of Christian stations and some variety of NPR. There are a few local stations, but unless you know what they are, they are hard to find.

When we turn on our local TV stations at night, we are most likely to be watching a station that has little investment in the community. Often the local news plays filler stories sent by station ownership to advance a cause.

Newspapers have their own special problems in this day and age. But most likely if you read one of Iowa’s major dailies, you are reading a paper that is owned by a conglomerate. And to them the bottom line is more important than content.

It has been extremely difficult to summarize in a short column what media consolidation has meant to Iowa. Media consolidation has meant not only the slant on the story that you hear or read, but also the stories that never see the light of day.

But if I know one thing about Iowans, they hate to be lied to and taken advantage of. And they do something about it. In October of 2005, 400+ plucky Iowans showed up to let the FCC hear first hand what they thought about media consolidation.

Others have taken to the blogs. Some have attempted to start true local community radio stations. More on that and other actions we can take next week as we conclude for now a look at media consolidation.

For an idea of how concentrated media is, take a look at this article. It may really surprise you.

~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.