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June 2, 2003
drunk with power!
No, not the handful of media conglomerates that will soon set the political and cultural agenda for the nation--ME...well, and Mike, and all the other bloggers and fast-multiplying outlets for alternative news and arts. Our proliferation in this wild new tomorrow has wiped away any concerns about losing cherished media ideals like diversity, independence, and public service.
So completely have bloggers and local-access cable altered the landscape, who in your town will care if Fox owns three radio stations, two TV channels, and your local newspaper, and GE and Clear Channel own the other four outlets? You'll still have the measured analysis of Mad Rick's Blog-Diggity, and who better to offer local perspectives than an overweight, voluntarily housebound 19-year-old?
Thus did FCC Chairman Michael Powell and his band of fearless visionaries hold a meeting today to free us from regulations against consolidation and monopoly. It was conducted in the language of Mordor, which I will not utter here, but Tom Shales at the Washington Post has this breakdown of what it's all likely to mean.
Enough with the gallows sarcasm. Conservative Republicans may see this as potentially the biggest club in their arsenal--bigger even than stacked courts and control of the Hill. With our descent into another endless, vaporous war on our corporations' behalf, and tax cuts that will gut the government's ability to curb or ameliorate their excesses, they've seen to it we'll be fucked for a long time to come. Now they've green-lighted the media conglomerates to step up with the blindfolds and the reach-around.