Press Release
Media Concentration and Indecency: Is There a Link?
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 8, 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: National Press Club, First Amendment Room, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
WHAT: Press conference and release of new report, "Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?"
WHO:
Commissioner Michael J. Copps, Federal Communications Commission
Professor Robert W. McChesney, co-founder and president, Free Press
Dan Isett, director of corporate and government affairs, Parents Television Council
Jonathan Rintels, executive director, Center for Creative Voices in Media
DETAILS:
Since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, ownership of our nation's radio and television stations has become increasingly concentrated. Over the same period, many citizens and policymakers have expressed concern over a perceived rise in the broadcasting of offensive material. In response, the FCC levied nearly twice as many fines for broadcasting indecent content from 2000 to 2003 as it did in all of the 1990s.
As the FCC again prepares to loosen rules on media ownership -- and Congress rewrites the Telecom Act -- the relationship of ownership concentration and broadcast indecency deserves far greater scrutiny. A new report by Jonathan Rintels of the Center for Creative Voices in Media and Professor Philip M. Napoli of Fordham University offers compelling evidence of a link between media consolidation and indecency. Speakers at Thursday's press conference will comment on the report and discuss how to better regulate indecency on the airwaves without trampling the First Amendment.
WHERE: National Press Club, First Amendment Room, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
WHAT: Press conference and release of new report, "Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?"
WHO:
DETAILS:
Since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, ownership of our nation's radio and television stations has become increasingly concentrated. Over the same period, many citizens and policymakers have expressed concern over a perceived rise in the broadcasting of offensive material. In response, the FCC levied nearly twice as many fines for broadcasting indecent content from 2000 to 2003 as it did in all of the 1990s.
As the FCC again prepares to loosen rules on media ownership -- and Congress rewrites the Telecom Act -- the relationship of ownership concentration and broadcast indecency deserves far greater scrutiny. A new report by Jonathan Rintels of the Center for Creative Voices in Media and Professor Philip M. Napoli of Fordham University offers compelling evidence of a link between media consolidation and indecency. Speakers at Thursday's press conference will comment on the report and discuss how to better regulate indecency on the airwaves without trampling the First Amendment.
