ACTION ALERTS
Media Democracy and You
What is Media Democracy?
As a consumer of media (film, television, radio, newspaper, magazine, web), you expect to be informed about the world in a comprehensive and balanced way. As a creator of independent film and video, you have stories to tell and ideas to get across, and you rely on the media landscape to provide you with opportunities to share your work with your target audience.
These interests are at the core of the fight for media democracy — the demand that news and entertainment industries create media that serves the public interest: news about our local communities; series that reflect diversity and contribute to public discourse; outlets for independent and critical voices.
Media democracy is at stake when corporate interests conflict with the public interest and, unfortunately, our current media climate is riddled with these conflicts. In case you haven't heard, seven transnational corporations dominate the U.S. and global media and these companies have many interests and investments, few of which have anything to do with the public good.
Public and corporate interests often conflict in a media landscape dominated by seven transnational companies.
It is the FCC's job to regulate the media industry, putting systems in place that ensure that media companies, big and small, serve the public. However, the FCC has been failing us. In June 2003, they dramatically changed the regulations so that one company could own more sources of information in a single market. This empowered companies like radio giant Clear Channel to buy up hundreds of smaller broadcasters and to pipe the same streamlined infotainment into thousands of homes. And as mega companies like Clear Channel broaden their ownership, they also deepen their investments in political lobbying, weapons development, agribusiness and many other lucrative enterprises that undermine their ability to present unbiased and comprehensive information to the public.
Good News
If you've been learning about the fight for media democracy through The Just Media Project, then you know all about Andrew Jay Schwartzman, our Just Media Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. He is a lawyer at the public interest lawfirm Media Access Project (MAP), which has been leading a lawsuit to stem the FCC's push towards media deregulation.
A wave of excitement rippled through the media democracy movement when, on June 24th 2004, MAP won the suit on behalf of the independent low-power radio organization, Prometheus Radio Project. The United States Court of Appeals in Philadelphia voted to reverse the Federal Communications Commission's June 2003 push toward deregulation and conglomeration.
This legal win does not come out of the blue. Media Access Project and a network of media reform activists have been raising public awareness about key issues and voicing their concerns at public hearings throughout the year. While this ongoing battle for media reform has generally been underreported by mainstream media, the June 24th ruling made the headlines.
The FCC determines the number of media outlets that one company can own in a single market
The New York Times reports, "The court decision was a victory for smaller broadcasters and a coalition of labor, consumer, religious, artistic and civil rights organizations, which have said that the relaxation of the media ownership rules threatened to reduce the diversity of voices on the airwaves and would lead to declining standards in television and radio programming."
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO of Media Access Project, has issued the following statement in response to the decision (from Media Access Project):
This is a big, big win for diversity in the media. The Court has ruled in our favor on almost every issue in the case. The judges agreed with us that preserving democracy is more important than helping big companies grow bigger. Almost as important as what we won is what the big broadcasters didn’t win. The Court decisively rejected claims that the FCC hadn't deregulated enough, and that the existing ownership scheme is unconstitutional.
Media Policy and Filmmaking
If you are a filmmaker wondering how media ownership and this ruling apply to you, we recommend that you check out Digital Futures: A Need-to-Know Policy Guide for Independent Filmmakers, created by the Independent Television Service and the Center for Social Media at American University, with funding from the Ford Foundation. Available as a free PDF download, the guide covers everything from fair use to innovations in broadband, focusing on the implications for indie producers.
Download Digital Futures and learn how media ownership affects you.
The section on media ownership (beginning on page 21) clearly outlines the key players and provides an accessible narrative of the FCCs shifts in policy from the deregulatory era of the 80s, to the 1996 ruling relaxing radio ownership rules, to the current attempt to allow big media companies to own even more news sources in a single market. The guide makes it clear how these policy-decisions affect the independent film community, focusing on how media conglomeration limits the outlets for distribution.
Innovations in Distribution
The other good news is that new distributors are coming up with innovative ways to bring important, social-issue media to audiences. One recent example is Netflix's partnership with public television documentary series P.O.V..
On June 14th, P.O.V. and Netflix, the world's largest online movie rental service, announced that the next season of P.O.V. will be available to rent on Netflix the day after they are broadcast. Whereas in the past, audiences had to wait many months for the DVD release of a documentary that aired on P.O.V., now people who missed the broadcast can watch the film at their convenience and participate in P.O.V.'s discussion boards and nationwide campaigns. Each P.O.V. DVD will include additional materials such as a discussion guide, enabling teachers to integrate the films into their classrooms.
Andrew Schwartzman implores filmmakers to join the media reform movement.
These new partnerships increase the reach of independent media and go hand in hand with the ongoing demands of Media Access Project and others that big media hold up their promise to serve the public interest. The June 24th ruling means that the media landscape may just be looking a little sunnier for those of you trying to bring important stories to wider audiences, but there is still a great deal of work to be done.
As Andrew Schwartzman explained at the Media That Matters Film Festival Awards Ceremony, "The point that I want to make for the filmmakers and artists here is that it's not going to happen by itself. You have to recognize that to perform your art and to pass it on to your audience, you have to do something about protecting your rights. Fighting media concentration is just as much of a challenge as the cost of equipment, buying film stock, and dealing with intellectual property rights and licenses — it's part of your job."
We encourage you to follow Andrew's lead and join the fight for media democracy through The Just Media Project.
RSS Feed