Digital Destiny is a new book by Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. Chester raises warnings and proposes a “policy agenda for the broadband era.” Kirkus Reviews begins its commentary on the book writing that Digital Destiny is:
A sobering view of today’s entrenched corporate media giants as a threat to the concept of an enlightened electorate. As executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a public-interest group, the author has spent 30 years in the middle of Washington’s often obfuscated communications policy-making apparatus. Recent trends, he argues, have so broken down former caveats against consolidation of media ownership–newspapers, radio, TV and now digital networks and services–that the future of media content, including the Internet itself, may be effectively determined without public participation. Thanks to rampant deregulation of large media corporations, particularly under the reign of former Bush administration FCC Commissioner Michael C. Powell, Chester asserts, commercial considerations–advertising revenues and fee-based media services–have become the prime force in new media development and delivery schemes.
Comments
@ 13:39
Advertising revenue is important in that it sustains local broadcasters and allows them to provide free local programming. Should the FCC roll back the media ownership rules the ability of these local broadcasters to survive could be threatened.
Over the past decade the internet has exploded with an exponentially increasing number of outlets where we can get our news, entertainment, etc. Local broadcasters have to compete not only with the large internet outlets but with satellite and cable for the precious ad dollars. As someone who works with the NAB on behalf of thousands of broadcasters, I would hope the FCC would enact regulations reflective of the current landscape and choices we have today.