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On the Issues
Media and Telecommunications Issues
The well-being of our democracy depends on a media industry that is independent, diverse, and rooted in our communities. Unfortunately, over the past decade we have witnessed the dramatic consolidation of the majority of our country's broadcast and cable networks, radio stations, and newspapers into a small handful of large conglomerates, moving programming and editorial decisions out of our communities and into faraway corporate boardrooms. This trend has accelerated under the Bush Administration, which has attempted to further loosen media ownership rules and taken other measures to undermine the independence and diversity of our nation’s media, such as cutting federal support for public broadcasting.
As a co-chair of the congressional Future of American Media Caucus, I have taken a leading role in the fight to keep media outlets in the hands of local communities, sponsoring legislation, authoring letters, and hosting events in the Fourth District in an effort to oppose further media consolidation. While our past efforts were steadily opposed by House Republican leadership, the Democratic congressional majority offers a new opportunity to hold the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) accountable to the American public.
Related Information
MEDIA OWNERSHIP:
Media Consolidation
Letter to FCC on Media Ownership Studies (Sept 14, 2007)
Letter to FCC on Media Ownership Rules (October 25, 2007)
CRS Report: FCC Media Ownership Rules
CRS Report: The FCC's Studies on Media Ownership
The Nation Media Ownership Chart
PUBLIC BRAODCASTING:
Protecting Public Broadcasting
INTERNET POLICY:
CRS Report: Broadband Access and the Digital Divide
CRS Report: Net Neutrality
INDECENCY:
Protecting Children from Indecent and Violent Programming
Free Press's Ownership Concentration and Indecency Report
CRS Report: Regulation of Broadcast Indecency
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