Friday, December 07, 2007
Why we need media diversity
The BBC was all over the CIA Torture Tape Cover-Up that the New York Times broke last night. The BBC was all US-Crimes, War-Crimes, Obstruction-of-Justice, Impeachment all the time this morning.
I flipped on the TV around 6:30 AM and cruised up and down the channels. Happy talk, weather talk and crime, plus one discussion of the Bush sub-prime ocean-with-teaspoon bailout.
Maybe my cableco's news shows covered Torture-Tape-Gate, I don't know. My channel flipping was hardly systematic. But clearly the story didn't have the high priority that the BBC gave it on any of the channels I saw.
I'm imagining former FCC chairman Mike Powell, a friend of mine despite many disagreements, saying, "But without the Internet, you might not have heard even the BBC story. You're getting more diversity today than ever before."
Thank goodness! To keep that diversity, we need a neutral Internet in addition to media diversity! When the Internet's locus of control shifts from its users to the giant corporations that provide access, the Internet will be all happy talk, weather talk and crime too.
UPDATE: Many of the Sunday (12/9) news shows were at least mentioning the torture tape coverup. But, using Doc Searls' coinage, it's no longer news, it's olds.
I flipped on the TV around 6:30 AM and cruised up and down the channels. Happy talk, weather talk and crime, plus one discussion of the Bush sub-prime ocean-with-teaspoon bailout.
Maybe my cableco's news shows covered Torture-Tape-Gate, I don't know. My channel flipping was hardly systematic. But clearly the story didn't have the high priority that the BBC gave it on any of the channels I saw.
I'm imagining former FCC chairman Mike Powell, a friend of mine despite many disagreements, saying, "But without the Internet, you might not have heard even the BBC story. You're getting more diversity today than ever before."
Thank goodness! To keep that diversity, we need a neutral Internet in addition to media diversity! When the Internet's locus of control shifts from its users to the giant corporations that provide access, the Internet will be all happy talk, weather talk and crime too.
UPDATE: Many of the Sunday (12/9) news shows were at least mentioning the torture tape coverup. But, using Doc Searls' coinage, it's no longer news, it's olds.
Technorati Tags: Bushco, Diversity, FifthAmendment, FirstAmendment, FourthAmendment, MichaelPowell, NetworkNeutrality, Press, Torture
Comments:
The big joke is that the Media Cartels defend broadcast consolidation by constantly pointing to the Internet as proof of competition.
No one ever bothers to ask, since when did we decide to write off radio and tv? Who decided that?
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No one ever bothers to ask, since when did we decide to write off radio and tv? Who decided that?
