Broadcasting

It’s the Media, Stupid!

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Update

Article in the Guardian by Carter Sherman, 10/18/24

Headline: “Judge slaps down Florida effort to ban abortion ad: ‘It’s the first amendment, stupid’”

Subhead: “State health department sent letter to stations demanding they not air TV ad backing abortion access ballot measure”

“Florida’s health department can’t block a TV advertisement in support of a ballot measure that would protect abortion rights, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, after the department sent letters to local TV stations commanding them to stop airing the ad or risk criminal consequences.

“The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false’,” US district judge Mark E Walker wrote in his ruling. “To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/18/florida-abortion-ad

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Article in The Guardian by Carter Sherman, 10/9/24

Headline: “Florida threatens news stations over ad in favor of abortion rights measure”

Subhead:  “FCC chair condemns state health department for sending cease-and-desists over spot supporting abortion rights”

“The Florida health department has fired off cease-and-desist letters to local news stations over an advertisement urging people to vote in favor of a ballot measure that would expand abortion rights in the state.

” . . . On Tuesday, Jessica Rosenworcel, the Federal Communications Commission chair, condemned the cease-and-desist letters.

“ ‘The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the first amendment,’ Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/09/florida-news-abortion-ballot-coverage

 

 

Fox in a Media Hole

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Harlanov Flikr Photo

Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 10/17/24

Hedline: “There is no Fox ‘news side.’ Wednesday’s Trump and Harris events prove it”

“Fox News’ Wednesday programming encapsulated the transformation of the network’s once-vaunted “news side” into an extension of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.”

“. . . Fox’s “news side” has been in steep decline since Trump took over the Republican Party and the network rebranded as his personal propaganda outlet. But even by those standards, the partisan divide it displayed on Wednesday was striking and would be catastrophically embarrassing to Fox’s employees if any of them were still capable of humiliation.”

“. . . The network has shortened its “news” hours and replaced newsroom staffers with GOP partisans.

“Reporters who tried to tell viewers the truth about Trump’s election fraud claims were first chastised by their bosses and then took jobs at other outlets.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/there-no-fox-news-side-wednesdays-trump-and-harris-events-prove-it

Media Ignore, “If it walks like a . . . “

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Article by in Media Matters by Tyler Monroe, 10/14/24

Headline: “Broadcast news shows and print outlets largely ignored Gen. Milley calling Trump “fascist to the core”

Subhead: “Only one article from The Washington Post and one segment from NBC News covered the comments”

“National broadcast news networks and print outlets buried recent comments from Donald Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Gen. Mark Milley calling the former president “fascist to the core.” Almost all broadcast news shows and the major newspapers ignored the comments, with only NBC’s Meet the Press and The Washington Post covering Milley’s “fascist” remarks.

“Reporting surfaced on October 11 that Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” in comments reported in journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book War.”

“. . . Broadcast and print news almost completely ignored Milley’s characterization of Trump as ‘fascist’.”

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/broadcast-news-shows-and-print-outlets-largely-ignored-gen-milley-calling-trump

News Desert in Florida During Hurricanes

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Article in Poynter by Janet Coats and Joy Mayer 10/11/24

Headline: “Where’s the coverage of communities that didn’t ‘dodge a bullet’ with Hurricane Milton?”

Subhead: “Local television news forecast the storm up and down the coast. But after it struck, the cone of coverage felt like it narrowed”

“For days leading up to the storm, local and national news coverage focused on a threat to Tampa and St. Petersburg that none of us have seen in our lifetime. The Tampa region is one of the most vulnerable in the world to the storm surge a major hurricane brings. Both cities could be inundated with water. So the urgent warnings and tense anticipation about what would happen there made sense.”

“. . . In journalism, we’ve talked a lot about news deserts. Those conversations have focused on the decline and even death of local newspapers. But we also have local television news deserts. And that is a very real, life-threatening problem when a big storm comes to Florida.”

“. . .It’s a stark example of what it means to be in a television news desert. News deserts in proximity to major television markets aren’t just a Florida thing. As a friend and former Sarasota journalist noted: If a tornado happens in southern Indiana, coverage often comes out of Louisville. This also isn’t just a problem for natural disasters. People who live two hours from a major market are accustomed to being undercovered. The concentration of journalists in urban areas is unavoidable.”

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2024/hurricane-coverage-less-known-cities-lacking/

Groups File to Protect FCC Ownership Rules

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Article in Freepress.net by Craig Aaron, 9/20/24

Headline: “Public-Interest Groups Defend FCC’s Broadcast-Ownership Rules Promoting Competition, Diversity and Localism on Air”

“On Friday, six public-interest, media-reform, media-justice and labor organizations joined to file an amicus curiae brief defending the Federal Communications Commission’s broadcast-ownership rules against an industry challenge in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The six groups are Common Cause, the Communications Workers of America-National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Free Press, the Future of Music Coalition, the musicFIRST Coalition and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc. (“UCC Media Justice”). All of these entities have long participated in FCC proceedings and court cases on this issue. Attorneys Cheryl Leanza and Rachel Stillwell authored and filed the brief on the groups’ behalf.

“The FCC’s media-ownership rules are designed to promote competition, viewpoint diversity, ownership diversity and the delivery of local content by broadcast stations licensed to serve communities all across the United States.”

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/public-interest-groups-defend-fccs-broadcast-ownership-rules

FCC  broadcast ownership rules:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-review-broadcast-ownership-rules

Article on the kkfistory website from community radio pioneers Lorenzo Milam and Jeremy Lansman who protested to the FCC against duopoly and bland, monolithic radio of 1974.

https://www.kkfistory.org/lorenzo-jeremys-petition-against-god/

80s Radio Broadcasts in California, Found

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Article in Slashdot by Editor David, 8/19/24

Headline: Internet Archive Streams Re-Discovered 1980s Radio Show About Early Computers

“In the 1980s, a radio show about home computers was broadcast on a handful of California radio stations. 40 years later, reel-to-reel tapes of the shows were re-discovered — and digitized — by an Internet Archive special collections manager.

“Interviews in the recovered recordings include Timothy Leary, Douglas Adams, Bill Gates, Atari’s Jack Tramiel, Apple’s Bill Atkinson, and dozens of others. The recovered shows span November 17 1984 through July 12, 1985.”

https://idle.slashdot.org/story/24/08/19/0454252/internet-archive-streams-re-discovered-1980s-radio-show-about-early-computers