If this isn't an uneccessary reditribution of wealth by lib newspaper oulets I don't know what is. They should go where they belong...in the toilet. Independant my arse...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997876.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

They should keep regulations on the media or we would never get balanced reporting. That's for sure.

Reevaluating media regulations
Tough times may call for lax restrictions
By BRIAN LOWRY

The perils of media consolidation have been a longstanding concern. Even during a stint working for Tribune Co. as they futilely attempted to squeeze synergies out of TV-print combinations, I banged the drum against allowing TV, radio stations and newspapers coagulate in too few hands, fearing ethical abuses or the nagging appearance of them, as well as the loss of independent voices to watchdog government and the media itself.

Today, though, amid daily waves of depressing economic news, conflicted voices sound preferable to neutered or, worse, deceased ones.

It's not a given that further relaxing restrictions on media consolidation would significantly benefit ailing broadcasters and newspapers at this late stage. Economies of scale certainly haven't kept Time Warner from shedding staff at its magazines or Tribune out of bankruptcy.

HA HA HA

They should keep regulations on the media or we would never get balanced reporting. That's for sure.

Excuse me but I could just swear...

Umm what was said in discussions about the fairness doctrine?

Wait I get it now...FOX news...why they can say and do whatever they'd like...let's regulate everyone else.

*yawns*

You must be talking about the military analyst/plants placed on every news program and given scripts to propagandize the war in Iraq by the Republican Party!

I am a regular reader of several newspapers.

I like print and I always have. I taught my kids to read first pointing out letters in the paper.

Increasingly people get their news from the internet or from cable news outlets. Papers are struggling.

Without commenting on freedom, propaganda or the alarming trend of media consolidation it must be pointed out, there are inherent costs in producing any sort of media.

The mega church down the road that broadcasts it's services has to pay for cameras, monitors, sound systems and operators. The newspapers must pay for gas to get reporters to stories, paper and ink, lights in the building and fact checkers.You see my point right?

I know some who only watch FOX likely figure it is produced magically and beamed from the throne of God but gosh...it isn't.

It costs money to report the news.

FOX Sucks!
They are being paid by special interest, ie. Republican Party, to portray events as they think it best you view them.
They have been being used to bring propaganda into America's living rooms.
Advertising pays enough for television. It should be fair and honest reporting done on the news broadcasts and that requires regulation!

Be fair it isn't just FOX being paid to "inform" us.

Exerpts from an article from Ednews

"With No Child Left Behind education act criticism mounting, more positive spin was in dire need. Nationally syndicated African American Republican columnist Armstrong Williams was the logical $240,000 beneficiary of Secretary Roderick Paige's U.S. Department of Education payola scheme.

USA TODAY newspaper broke the story January 7, 2005. "The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," reported Greg Toppo, "and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004." Toppo said the contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. "Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances," wrote Toppo.

Williams, who is 45, is a former aide to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. According to USA TODAY, Williams's contract was part of a $1 million deal with Ketchum that also produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote the Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, "which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars."

Republican neoconservatives have enjoyed power garnering media attention with their neoconservative think-tank scribes and columnists. The "pugnacious, provocative" neoconservative Williams provided an additional audience. In his syndicated column October 4, 2004 "Pseudo leadership and black groupthink" Williams growled, "The black pseudo leader is a parasite. He nourishes himself on the suffering of others. He exists by satisfying the mob's voracious appetite for excuses and easy solutions. If there is no easy solution for the complex problems of racism in our country, the black pseudo leader will create one. In a calm baritone he will talk about reparations. Sure, that causes people in the crowd to pump their fists in support. But what does it do to affect progress." For certain, any white neoconservative Republican scribe can be thinking likewise, but he or she would be reluctant to put it in writing.

However, Neo-Nazis and other white supremacist hate groups do, but with more harsh renditions of Williams's themes. He continued his "pseudo leader" diatribe, "Julian Bond, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Jesse Jackson and Marion Barry are not leaders. They do not talk about the complex problems that confront our communities. Instead they distill these complex issues into racially-charged sound bites that get their swollen faces on TV. This is not leadership. It's hype."

Full article here: http://www.ednews.org/articles/145/1/NCLB-payola-to-Williams-flunks-ethics/Page1.html

That just proves my point.
These commentators should not be allowed to accept money from special interests. If they do then the network should be required to make an announcement, at the beginning of the broadcast and after every commercial, saying who payed for it so Americans are at least informed that what they are watching is biased and not fair balanced reporting.