The fucking Federal Communications Commission adopted changes to media ownership rules on Monday pushed through by conservative Republican chairman Kevin Martin as the Christmas season approaches in spite of a major public outcry against the plan.

Last Christmas, you may recall, Martin pushed through the merger approval of AT&T with BellSouth, reuniting that monopoly telecommunicatios giant that was broken up by the Reagan FCC and the federal courts back in the 1980s.

According to national news organizations in the room for the vote, the new rules tighten the reins on the cable television industry while loosening 32-year-old restrictions that have prevented a company from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.

NYT: F.C.C. Eases Media Ownership Rule

Michael J. Copps, a Democratic commissioner who has led a nationwide effort against relaxing the media ownership rules, said the rule was nothing more than a big Christmas present to the largest conglomerates.

“In the final analysis, the real winners today are businesses that are in many cases quite healthy,” Mr. Copps said, “and the real losers are going to be all of us who depend on the news media to learn what’s happening in our communities and to keep an eye on local government.”

Of course the Newspaper Association of America attacked the proposal for being too modest and criticized Martin’s plan for not going far enough to give the big papers an even bigger monopoly in local markets.

“Today’s vote is only a baby step in the actions needed to maintain the vitality of local news, in print and over-the-air, in all communities across the nation,” the president of the Newspaper Association, John F. Sturm, said. “Eliminating the cross-ownership ban completely would enhance localism by enabling broadcasters to increase local news and would not distract from the diversity of viewpoints available to local audiences.”

Which is complete bullshit, especially in a state such as Alabama, where the Newhouse-Advent corporation controls the three largest circulation newspapers in the state as well as some of the top rated TV stations that reach most of the state’s viewing area with the same old bland, conservative news product. The same corporation also owns the top traffic Web news site in the state, in spite of its crappy design and same old, same old content.

More from the Hollywood Reporter:

FCC, on 3-2 vote, OKs media ownership rule

Washington’s big-time media finally has accepted that George W. Bush’s case for invading Iraq in 2003 was bogus. But the press corps still won’t challenge more recent White House lies and distortions about Iraq.

Though Bush’s Iraq intelligence fraud is ongoing and the death toll continues to mount, the U.S. news media has yet to get serious about its watchdog duties.

For the full story of how Bush’s Iraq falsehoods still go unchallenged, go to the independent ConsortiumNews.Com. 

Author and media criti Jeff Cohen of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting will take the stage on Friday, April 13 at 7 p.m. in Roberts Hall on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus. The event is free and open to the public.

In this entertaining presentation, according to the press release, Cohen explains why television news has become a national joke and a nightly Jon Stewart punch line, based on his firsthand experience. Cohen started out as an outsider critic but became an insider pundit. He takes his audience on a personal tour of TV news, illuminating what’s comical and what’s tragic in the news business today.

Cohen’s cable news experience includes serving as co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire,” a weekly “News Watch” panelist on Fox News and a commentator on MSNBC. He was senior producer of “Donahue” on MSNBC, until the show was terminated on the eve of the Iraq War.

Cohen is well known for founding the media watch group, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) in 1986. He is author of five books and his latest, Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media, was published last year. This book dissects the cable news channels and finds serious failures in how they cover the most urgent issues of the day.

A book signing will follow the lecture. Books will be available for sale.

For more information, visit the Website of the North Alabama Media Reform organization, call 256-489-3884 or e-mail: lahaynes@knology.net.

Looks like local weatherman James Spann’s gambit to go national and get his 15 minutes of fame has fizzled to only five minutes, perhaps because his timing is bad. He’s been stuck in Birmingham WAY too long.

I remember when the dude’s hair fell out about 25 years ago. Mine’s longer than ever. Sorry James.

Apparently, Spann got bumped from Fox’s “Hannity and Colmes” show tonight, as well as CNN, making him and the Birmingham News both wrong.

Then the FOX News Network called and asked (Spann) to appear on “Hannity and Colmes,” according to the Birmingham News. And CNN Headline News, the paper reported, “which wanted to book him for ‘Glenn Beck.’ Spann said he is scheduled to appear on both of those shows Monday night.”

Weatherman James Spann Spawns Cyber-Storm

Perhaps the reason Spann was “bumped” has something to do with a couple of breaking news stories today, both totally ignored by Fox and the News.

Maybe Spann could have pulled off a move from ABC 33/40, in one of the biggest “small time” markets in the country, to the big-time Fox “nothing” weather desk, if he had tried this 3-5 years ago. Then, Bush and the Republicans would have been on his side and he could have been the anti-global warming hero of the minute.

Now, it turns out, even corporate executives want Bush to start admitting the truth on “man-made” global warming and maybe begin doing something about it.

CEOs Ask Bush to Reduce Climate Changing Pollution

Or, how about this? The University of Innsbruck’s Institute for Ecology reported today that most glaciers will disappear from the Alps by 2050, more evidence of “man-made” global warming?

UI

University of Innsbruck’s Institute for Ecology documents melting glaciers: Glaciers May Vanish From Alps

In case you missed it, here’s our original post on the Spann Spanking, including the “clown” comment:

Global Warming Controversy Hits Local Weatherman

by Glynn Wilson

Walking into the local Food World grocery store the other day to stock up on Yuengling for the week, I was a bit surprised to see a representative from the Birmingham News hawking newspapers just inside the door.

I guess the declining circulation trend is hitting home on the local level even though the News now has a monopoly on the local daily newspaper market since the Post Herald went out of business last year.

The guy was fairly knowledgeable about the circulation problem, saying the News has fallen to only a 10 percent penetration in the metropolitan area market.

News organizations of all stripes are trying to deal with this problem, and I’m always fascinated to see what the pencil pushers or “green eyeshades” - or should we call them “data crunchers” these days - come up with to try reversing the slide.
Read the rest of this entry »