This column was originally published in The Davis Enterprise on May 27, 2010.
I’ve written about media policy for nearly 15 years and can say I sometimes feel jaded. But put the words “state-run” in front of the word media, and I’ll admit surprise.
To provide some context, let me first recap the past few months. Media conglomerate Comcast proposed to merge with other media conglomerate NBC. Partially in response, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been holding a series of public meetings to solicit public comment on its media ownership rules, as well as the impact of technological changes on journalism.
The FCC is tasked with being the public watchdog on such issues, and with evaluating media ownership rules to promote competition and diversity in local media markets. Though the proposed Comcast-NBC merger has been a nexus for criticism, there’s been a slow, steady erosion of media diversity in this country for decades. With each consolidation, jobs are lost, along with local perspectives. What happens to democracy when local stories go uncovered or are limited in their perspective? This sort of question keeps me awake at night.