Our Liberty Depends on Freedom of the Press

Russ Geh is a Bellingham sculptor who’s concerned about the effects the media has on the populace.

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” This was the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson. If the Founding Fathers of America were to witness the current state of our so called “democracy,” they would probably agree that laws concerning freedom of information to the American population should have received much more attention during the creation of the Constitution.

Today, our situation is such that the Federal Communications Commission is about to loosen the regulation of the corporations that own the media. This will simply pave the road toward a monopoly over the information which reaches the American public.

According to the FCC Web site, the commission is considering lifting the rules which “currently limit a single corporation from dominating local TV markets, from merging a community’s TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper, from merging two of the major TV networks, and from controlling more than 35 percent of all the TV households in the nation.”

This means that nearly everything we see, read, and hear may soon be filtered through the interests of a single corporate power. Currently there are already only a small handful of corporations that own all of the major TV networks.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was one of the most substantial deregulatory actions taken in recent history. According to President Clinton this would bring American consumers “lower prices, better quality and greater choices in their telephone and cable systems.”

The Wall Street Journal states in 2001 that “the competition never got started. Now, with many startup phone companies faltering or folding, it looks unlikely that it ever will.”

Most people have no idea of the magnitude of the shift that has occurred over the last several decades. In Thom Hartman’s recent book, “Unequal Protection,” he points out that “in 1946, 80 percent of all American newspapers were owned by individuals and independent local companies.” As of today, 80 percent are corporately owned.

Entering these industries is not something that can be accomplished without huge amounts of capital. Since they are economies of scale, new companies able to establish themselves would be at a ridiculous disadvantage to larger corporations.

Since the upcoming monopoly over information will obviously continue to be kept out of the mainstream media, solutions to this crisis will not arise easily. Spreading the word begins with you. Yes, you are now one of the few Americans who have accessed the information which is vital to re-establishing a democracy.

Write to the FCC as well as your Congressional representatives and express grave concern over this issue. The very idea of abolishing the regulation of our media should never have been allowed to progress this far. Indifference and inactivity reflect irresponsibility as an American citizen and will be a serious detriment to the future of America. §