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media and impartiality



Here's an interesting link regarding media and impartiality with excerpts below. I notice the SF Chronicle fired one of their reporters for taking part in an anti-war rally. Clear Channel corporate's statement regarding their non-involvement in the local pro-war rallies may well be true, as we experienced the Who boycott from one of their stations in January, but support from others.

It does seem questionable for one company to own so many stations, and there's some kind of cross-ownership plan coming up before the FCC, which could allow further expansion by the big media companies. It has some ramifications for bands and musicians, as I gather that Clear Channel already requires pay offs for radio play.

Another possibility here is that the BBC doesn't want competition from Clear Channel and Dyke would like to use this complaint to block them. Opinions from anybody?


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030425/media_nm/iraq_media_bbc_dc_4

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. broadcasters' coverage of the Iraq (news - web sites) war was so unquestioningly patriotic and so lacking in impartiality that it threatened the credibility of America's electronic media, the head of the BBC said on Thursday.

BBC Director General Greg Dyke singled out for criticism the fast growing News Corp. Ltd.'s Fox News Channel, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, and Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest operator of radio stations in the United States, with over 1,200 stations, for special criticism.
<snip>

"We are genuinely shocked when we discover that the largest radio group in the United States was using its airwaves to organize pro-war rallies. We are even more shocked to discover that the same group wants to become a big player in radio in the United Kingdom when it is deregulated later this year," Dyke said.

Officials for Clear Channel said that any pro-war rallies linked to the company have been organized by individuals, such as popular disc jockey Glenn Beck, or individual stations, rather than as a result of overall corporate policy.

keets



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