Information Control »
Posted By JSilver 10 months ago in NewsNearly everything you see, hear and read that isn't from a friend — whether on TV, the radio, or even on the Web — comes from a for-profit gatekeeper. "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one," as they say, and these corporations own most of the 21st-century presses in America.
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JSilver
I am currently the executive director and a co-founder of Free Press. Before Free Press, I ran a statewide campaign for public funding of elections ...
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gamahuche10 months ago
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Pretty scary - definitely more scary than pretty.
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What I'm not clear about is how the role that the FCC plays actually affects the content of media - and what checks and balances it is subject to.
To what extent is it a friend of the people and to what extent could it be unwise, at least theoretically, to answer this question honestly? -
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Klarissa10 months ago
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My question: Do they think that the Government should control radio?
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The website info:
The Benton Foundation is a nonprofit organization set up by former U.S. Senator, William Benton and his wife, Helen Hemingway Benton. Its present chairman and CEO is their son, Charles Benton.
The Benton Foundation was the owner of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1974 until 1996, when it was bought by Jacqui Safra. The formation of the Benton Foundation was announced at the bicentennial banquet for the Britannica in 1968.
The mission of the Foundation was re-vamped somewhat in 1981 by Charles Benton, but it has always focused on using media for the public good, particularly for educational purposes.
In recent years, the Foundation has been most famous for its championing of digital access and for demanding public responsibility by mass media. The Benton Foundation has pushed for a national broadband policy at the highest levels of U.S. government.
It has also been pushing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to determine the public interest obligations of digital television broadcasters.
Finally, it has sponsored studies that suggest that concentration of media ownership in a few hands is not in the interests of the United States.-
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CHAM10 months ago
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kLARISSA. That is a good ideal for a Foundation to espouse. I have been asking and writing for Net Neutrality for some time. The articles were published on another site.
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When last year the FCC met to De-regulate the FCC requirements about ownership, I wrote about the harm that could accrue from too few owning the media. But that is what happened. Deregulation was accomplished by the Bush Administration ( the FCC head man was appointed by Bush with an intent to De-regulate ).
Most of the providers have been blocking and censoring traffic for some time. If you would like I will give you the link to the Bush Directive that formed a commission to study the internet and identify people who had the potential to become "Domestic Terrorists". The idea was to identify them by the things they read, wrote, and who they corresponded with.
I don't know if the thing was ever put into action but hopefully Obama might rescind it. I don't have a whole lot of confidence about that.
The point is you could be judged by your thoughts and if you were found as a potential you could have been whisked off to one of the Federal Prisons that Homeland Security had KBR built in the US over the last eight years ( Cost 357 Million ). they are currently empty. They have a capacity of over 2 million inmates.
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BronxBomberComment removed: Retracted by user
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StevieGee10 months ago
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Under Michael Powell the FCC allowed an amazing amount of consolidation in the media. This is not good for our country. A free press is the fourth and ultimate check in our system. Who is going to check the President when Congress and the courts fail? The press. This check was nearly nonexistent during the Bush administration. Even conservatives should realize the need for this as they have been victimized by the... ahem... liberal media for years.
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lovemorgulComment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned
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