I've just read a stunning new report titled "Off the Record: What Media
Corporations Don't Tell You About Their Legislative Agendas."
Unfortunately, the information in it will not be coming to a television set
near you.
In the hours after release of the report, the big cable TV networks were
devoting lots of live coverage to breathless stories about tragic deaths
that occurred years ago. Yet again, mighty news operations focused on
JonBenet Ramsey and Princess Diana. And none of the outlets were more
transfixed with those stories than CNN -- owned by Time Warner, the largest
media conglomerate.
As it happens, Time Warner figures prominently in "Off the Record," a
carefully researched document from the nonprofit Center for Public
Integrity. "No media corporation lavishes more money on lobbyists or
political campaigns than Time Warner," the report explains. "The media
giant spent nearly $4.1 million for lobbying last year, and since 1993 has
contributed $4.6 million to congressional and presidential candidates and
the two political parties."
For Time Warner, which has shelled out $15.77 million for lobbying since
1996, the stakes are high along Pennsylvania Avenue. Right now, the company
is awaiting federal approval of its merger with America Online. Many other
media firms are also accustomed to finding gratification in Washington as
regulators decline to regulate.
In theory, broadcasters hold licenses to use the public airwaves in the
public interest -- but despite all the profit-driven junk on TV and radio,
the Federal Communications Commission doesn't hesitate to renew those
licenses. Meanwhile, under the guise of protecting "intellectual property,"
huge multimedia companies have developed legal mechanisms to tighten their
grip on what passes for popular culture. And sometimes, the lobbying goals
of media corporations extend into areas that might surprise us.
"Last June, the Senate joined the House in passing legislation to repeal
estate taxes," the center's report noted. "The measure was strongly
supported by some well-known family-owned publishers." Such maneuvers
usually take place behind the scenes. Powerful media outfits fight "against
restrictions on tobacco advertising in print and alcohol advertising on the
air, for eliminating the FCC's rules designed to prevent the concentration
of the public airwaves and the press in too few hands, and to block any
attempt to give candidates free air time, a move that could reduce the cost
of political campaigns."
What's up with the FCC while all this frenetic lobbying is underway? Well,
it seems that many of the staffers at this watchdog agency are all too
happy to keep rubbing up against the legs of media titans. According to the
center, "Federal Communications Commission employees were taken on 1,460
all-expenses-paid trips sponsored by media corporations and associations
since 1995, costing a total of $1.5 million."
Elected officials and media outlets are apt to seem independent of each
other, but the ties that bind are sturdy and longstanding. Politicians
crave positive media coverage, and the corporate parents of news
organizations are determined to prevent government actions that would crimp
the flow of mega-profits. Compared to the riches gained by media firms, the
money paid to sway decision-makers in Washington adds up to little more
than peanuts.
So, in context, the influence-buying pattern documented by the Center for
Public Integrity should not be surprising: "Since 1996, the 50 largest
media companies and four of their trade associations have spent $111.3
million to lobby Congress and the executive branch of the government." And
media conglomerates can look forward to the next presidency. Al Gore and
George W. Bush each received "more than a million dollars in political
donations from media interests" during the past seven and a half years,
$1.16 million for Gore and $1.07 million for Bush.
"Off the Record" includes plenty of important revelations that will not be
televised. But the whole sordid story is available to those who go to
www.publicintegrity.org and click on "Center Reports." It will make a lot
of people mad.
Among those who already sound angry about the emerging media monopoly is
former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, whose comment provides a fitting
epigraph to the report: "Our big corporate owners, infected with the greed
that marks the end of the 20th century, stretch constantly for
ever-increasing profit, condemning quality to the hindmost ... compromising
journalistic integrity in the mad scramble for ratings and circulation."
Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His latest book is The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media.
