Banana Republic

You know the drill - control the airwaves.

Thanks to Bob for his post this morning on that very subject, quoting Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)...

The provision that was sneaked into the Omnibus appropriation bill that passed last week and has been signed by the President...establishes a new ceiling of 39 percent as the maximum percentage of American TV viewers in a market that may be reached by TV stations owned by any one company. Remember that number, 39 percent.

Before the FCC adopted rules in June to raise the cap to 45 percent, the cap was limited to 35 percent. Upset at what the FCC had done, a strong majority in the House and Senate agreed to roll back the FCC rule and take it back down to 35 percent. Why is this important? The White House and the Republicans in this conference on this Omnibus appropriation bill, with no Democrats present, came up with a figure of 39 percent as the new cap--39 percent. What is so magic about 39 percent? Allow me to explain. This wasn't chosen at random; it wasn't a good-faith compromise. No, it just so happens that Viacom, which owns CBS, currently owns stations reaching 38.8 percent of American households, and Rupert Murdoch's news corporation, the owners of that "fair and balanced" Fox Network, owns stations reaching 37.8 percent.

Interesting. Interesting that the White House and Republican leaders in Congress pushed a provision in a spending bill in the dark of night, without Democrats present, that benefited two corporations when it came to their ownership of television stations--Fox, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, and now Viacom, CBS. Both entities currently violate the old FCC limitation. They needed this new language. They would have been forced to sell off stations if their Republican friends in Congress and the White House had not come through for them.

So the White House and the congressional Republicans give CBS a significant corporate favor and CBS rewards them by killing an ad critical of the Bush White House during the Super Bowl. Doesn't that sound like a perfect subject for a "60 Minutes" investigation? Oh, I forget. "60 Minutes" is a CBS program. I don't think we are going to hear about this on "60 Minutes." I don't think Mike Wallace and Lesley Stahl are going to be taking an undercover camera into the boardrooms of CBS to find out what is going on there.
  entire Senate speech at MoveOn

Much of the speech is about the MoveOn ad and CBS' refusal to run it, because it's "controversial". Here's an excerpt on that topic:

It appears CBS executives consider it important to run not one, two, but three separate ads promoting drugs for sexual dysfunction during the Super Bowl. They believe in a national debate on such sexual problems is more important to the public interest than a discussion about the future of this Nation. In the CBS eye, sexual dysfunction is a topic families with children can watch. But budgetary dysfunction, which our children will pay for, is just too controversial, too hot to handle.

...From the CBS point of view, they will pick and choose what you can watch. Ads for beer with young folks doing things which maybe you don't want your children to see--not controversial. Ads by pharmaceutical companies for sexual dysfunction drugs you may not want your children to watch--not controversial. But an ad which says that our children are going to pay off a $1 trillion national debt created by this administration--over the line, way too scandalous, way too controversial. Children and good American families should not be subjected to that, in the eyes of CBS.

...These are the same executives at CBS, incidentally, who, during 1999 and 2000 gave 98 percent of their soft money political contributions to the Republican Party. They decided this MoveOn.org ad, which just might raise a question about President Bush's policies leading this Nation, and the deficit and debt our children face, those same CBS executives said we don't think we ought to step into this controversial area.

The major pharmaceutical companies, which will be running ads on three different sexual dysfunction drugs during the Super Bowl, have also been consistently placed among the five top spenders on lobbying the Republican Congress and in soft money and PAC contributions to Republican candidates.

And he did not say....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Finally, Senator Durbin sums up what you can do...

If you believe, after watching this ad by MoveOn.org, that CBS was wrong, that CBS should have allowed this ad, which shows children at work and says, in its closing frame, "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?"--if you think CBS made a mistake, you have a right, as an American, to contact them. You can write to them at: CBS Television Network, 51 West 52nd Street, New York, NY, 10019, or you can call them: (212) 975-4321. Ask to talk to the corporate executive who decided this ad was too controversial for your family to see. Make certain they understand, as I feel and hope you feel, that America is ready for an ad which tells the truth, an ad which may be controversial in the eyes of one political party but certainly deserves to be aired so the public can finally decide what is right and what is wrong.

I hope the American people will not sit idly by and watch as these media giants, such as CBS, become bigger, more powerful, and decide just exactly what we as Americans will get to see on TV.

I urge everyone watching to call CBS and remind the executive that you, the American people, are the owners of the American public airwaves.

For CBS, let me say this: The CBS eye has been closed to truth, closed to fairness, closed to presenting the facts honestly to the American people. CBS has a great legacy. It is a storied name when it comes to public information in America. This chapter is sad and disgraceful.

And my addendum to that is...get rid of those scumbags in Congress who push through this corrupt kind of sleezy legislation...without them, CBS wouldn't be making this play.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.