FCC Restrictions On Media Ownership

5 Pages 1197 Words

FCC Restrictions on Media Ownership

Introduction

Without a doubt, the most dominant influence in today’s American society must be the media. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of Americans have at least one television in their households and sixty-seven percent (67%) have two or more televisions . Radio stations broadcast frequencies that are picked up in our homes, our cars, at work, and even while exercising with a walk-man strapped to our waists. Newspapers and magazines catch our eyes in every aisle of every store offering eye-candy to persons of every sort with their fifty-point bold typed headlines and glossy full colored photos. And when all this fails to satisfy our hunger and curiosity for input, we can always turn to that boundless system of world wide web connections we affectionately call the internet, where with one fail swoop of the mouse we can instantly access topics of interest ranging from which movies Saddam Hussein keeps in his vast DVD collection to the most current death tolls of the S.A.R.S. epidemic.
The Issue
“Well, so what,” some might say, “what’s the problem with letting the media spoon feed us what we want?” Put simply, the media is our most relied upon porthole to the world that surrounds us. It is what we rely on to gather facts and information, which affects our own daily decision making activities. It is the media coverage of the candidates that we use to shape our decisions on who will get our vote for our children’s school board or who we elect to be the next President of our nation. The media’s inherent ability to influence the minds of its subscribers should not, and accordingly has not, been taken for granted…enter the FCC.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international co...