The people arguing against reducing restrictions on media ownership are missing the point. They/you argue that the result will be less diversity in programming, news reporting and shaping of public opinion. Well I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, you are too late! Think about this, in NY alone we have over a dozen “news” entities on TV; CNN, CNNFN, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX News, FOX 5, CBS, ABC, NBC, WB, CBN, etc. Now take notice that they all report:

• The same lead headline
• The same “news” stories
• In the same order
• From the same sources
• For the same amount of time
• With the same slant/bias
• With the same timing on the commercial breaks

Where is the diversity? There is none. This is because there is a coordinated effort to limit what is presented to the public. Your opinion on this does not really matter...it is happening right in front of your eyes and there is no denying it!

Taking into account that there are thousands of news items to report on a given day what are the natural odds of this happening? Zero! Impossible! Not even once, forget every day of every year! There is no diversity now and the FCC has worked very hard to hand control of the media (ownership) to a very small group of people and corporations. Media consolidation will not result in less diversity (because there is no diversity), it will just reduce number of owners making information control simpler. We’ve been in trouble for a while but it had gotten MUCH worse during the late 90's and early 21st century. Take a look at our news page at any time of day or night and you will see what you have been missing thanks to the current lack of diversity. You see it is not that reporters are not providing information. The control lies in the propagation of news. Some select information is blasted all over. Some information is virtually blasted into the public conscience while the majority of important information is left to reside in a single article in some local newspaper. On occasion these vital news stories are reported on TV, but you will only see them on one network or affiliate and you won't see them repeated or shared among the broadcast entities. Ask yourself why you know every detail of Michal Jackson's legal history and you don't know that water powered automobile engines have been around for 30 years, let alone that they even exist!

Media consolidation will not reduce diversity because there is no diversity left to lose. It will just consolidate the power to control your reality. - TVNL - May 30, 2003

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