Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Feature:Crossroads


A recent decision caught the eye of Freepress

Visit http://www.freepress.net/node/37891 for the rest of the story......


Out of Tune with Consumers
Washington Post, March 26, 2008 By Steven Pearlstein
The latest example of a government bailout of a troubled industry has nothing to do with Bear Stearns. It is, instead, the Justice Department's decision to give the green light to the merger of the satellite radio companies XM and Sirius.
For the past several years, these two companies have been competing so hard for talent, distribution channels and customers that neither has been able to turn a profit, and probably wouldn't have for years. Consumers have been the big winners, with great programming at affordable prices.
All that is about to change now that the Bush administration has concluded that we'll all be better off if these heretofore fierce rivals are allowed to stop competing and concentrate instead on reducing costs, paring down their combined offerings and finally delivering profit to their shareholders.
It took some doing -- and more than a year of "investigation" -- for the Justice Department to come up with its undisclosed evidence and tortured logic to justify this strikingly anti-consumer decision. As precedent, it could be used to justify the merger of ABC with both CBS and NBC, Clear Channel with the Bonneville radio network or even Coke with Pepsi. The message it sends to business executives is clear: If you find yourself in a tough competitive environment, the best strategy is not to find a way to offer better products and services at a better price, but rather to call your investment banker and negotiate a truce with your biggest rival.

For definitions of what this really means visit: and learn how to save our democracy.


"What Media Consolidation Means"
"Media consolidation means that the few corporate giants that own most of our media are getting even bigger by swallowing up more and more of our local media outlets.
But these massive conglomerates – like General Electric, Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. – care about the bottom line, not serving the public interest. And allowing these few firms too much control over the flow of news and information is dangerous for our democracy.
When Big Media get too big, local, independent and minority owners are pushed out of the market and off the airwaves. Media consolidation means:
Fewer voices and viewpoints
Less diversity in ownership and programming
Less coverage of local issues that matter to communities
Less of the unbiased, independent, critical journalism we need to prevent abuses of power
Put it all together and Big Media spells bad news – for average Americans and for our democracy."

No comments: