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Rep sanders Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://bernie.house.gov/statements/20020430132913.asphttp://bernie.house.gov/statements/20020430132913.asp
Statement of Congressman Sanders on 4/29/2002 regarding:
Corporate Control of the Media
“Tonight we are going to talk one of the most important and least discussed issues facing our country – and that is the rapidly increasing corporate control of the media. I believe that this event tonight, and the meeting we had in Montpelier last night, are the very first Congressional Town Meetings that have ever been held on this event – and I thank you very much for being part of it.
The simple truth is that more and more of what we read, see and hear is owned by fewer and fewer large, multi-national corporations and, in my view, this is a very dangerous trend in terms of the future of American democracy.
Many Americans do not realize that, despite the large number of tv channels, or newspapers, or magazines that are available, most of them arew owned by a few very large companies – and that number is dwindling. Whether it is AOL time Warner, Disney, Viacom, News Corporation, Bertelsmann, Vivendi Universal, Sony, AT&T or General Electric – a dwindling number of multi-national corporations control the flow of information to most of the people in our country.
Further, many Americans do not fully appreciate the conflicts of interest that are inherent when a multi-national owns media. Let me say a few words about one of the “smaller’ media conglomerates – General Electric. GE owns NBC and other media companies. The exact same points that are made about GE can be made about other media conglomerates.
GE has been one of the leaders in moving American jobs to China and other Third world countries – which gives them a certain perspective on our trade policies and the global economy.
GE is a major polluter – which gives them a certain perspective on the role of the government in protecting the environment.
GE has a strong anti-union record – which gives them a certain perspective on labor relations and the rights of workers.
GE is heavy into military production – which gives them a position on the military budget and government priorities.
GE has a long record of trying to pay as little as they can in taxes, and gain as much as they can in corporate welfare – which gives them a perspective on tax policy.
GE is heavy into financial services – which gives them a position on banking deregulating and other financial issues.
GE contributes substantial amounts of money into the political process – which gives them a stake in the future of campaign finance reform.
Rupert Murdoch, who owns the News Corporation and Fox television, is a rightwing billionaire. For all intent and purposes, Fox tv is a front group for the right wing of the Republican Party. Among their regular consultants are former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and John Kaisich, the former Republican Chairman of the Budget Committee.
In terms of radio, the networks and stations are dominated by ring wing talk show hosts. Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Bob Grant, Sean Hannity, Howie Carr, Oliver North, Michael Reagan and Laura Schlesinger – to name a few. Remember. This is a country where Al Gore and Ralph Nader got a few million more votes than George Bush and Pat Buchanan. Do Limbaugh and his friends have a right to get their views out? Absolutely. But so do opposing points of view. Unfortunately, those viewpoints scarcely exist on national radio.
While I am extremely concerned about the rightwing bent of television, radio and the newspapers – that is not my major concern in terms of how the media deals with government and politics.
Mostly, in a country which is expecting a 37% turnout in the next national election, and where fewer and fewer Americans are participating in the political process, I am extremely distressed at the degree to which gossip, sensationalism and scandal dominate media presentations. We learn more than we ever wanted to know about the sex lives of Bill Clinton and Gary Condit, and more than we needed to know about O.J. Simson, Princess Di and Robert Blake.
On the other hand, we hear almost nothing about some of the most important issues facing millions of middle-class and working families in this country.
Day after day in the nineties we were hearing from the media about the great economic “boom” taking place in this country. Meanwhile, the average American was working longer hours for lower wages. In fact, Americans now work the longest hours in any industrialized country. Where was the media discussion about the declining standard of living for millions of American workers?
The United States is the only major nation that does not have a national health care program guaranteeing health care to all it’s people. Yet, with 41 million uninsured, and millions more under-insured, we spend twice per capita on health care than any other country. Heard any media discussions on that issue?
We have many programs telling you how to get rich in the stock market. On the other hand, despite the fact that union workers earn 30% more than non-union workers for the same kind of job, there is no programming which speaks to how one can form a union, or the advantages of trade unionism?
Our country has a $360 billion dollar trade deficit, and has lost millions of good manufacturing jobs. Seen any good editorials or tv programming lately which speaks to the enormous problems with our trade policy.
And I could go on and on and on. The bottom line thought is that working people all over this country are struggling to keep their heads above water economically, and the media very rarely talks to the issues which affect their lives.”
Printed From Congressman Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Website:
http://bernie.house.gov/statements/20020430132913.asp
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