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This week marks the twentieth anniversary of a remarkable victory for
social justice. On September 3, 2003, the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals in Philadelphia blocked the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) from gutting the nation’s media ownership rules. This stopped the
floodgates for billions of dollars of media transactions, “cocked and
loaded” as the business press reported, and prevented what America saw,
heard, and read, on television, radio, and in newsprint from getting
much worse.
Since World War II, America limited the number and types of media a
single company could own. Just as a diversity of food is necessary for a
healthy diet, likewise a diversity of media voices is necessary for a
healthy democracy.
But after 1980, the craze to emphasize business over the public —
“deregulation” as it was termed — eroded those media ownership limits
over the next two decades. And in June 2003, the FCC went for the gusto
and voted to eliminate the remaining limits.
The result was a public outcry of historic proportions. More than three
million people responded, setting an all-time FCC record by orders of
magnitude. But that outcry didn’t just happen: Grassroots media
activists (including those at Chicago Media Action, where I volunteered)
worked hard to raise awareness at a time when the major media went mute,
hoping to cash in before people noticed and it would be too late.
But Congress did notice the public outcry, as did the courts, and the
Third Circuit Court asked the rhetorical question: “You [at the FCC] got
a million postcards. Does that matter?” The subsequent court order —
served one day before the vote went into effect — caught many media
companies flatfooted. Even some companies like Viacom and the Tribune
Corporation unraveled in its wake.
It might all seem quaint today, given that the “legacy” media are now
small potatoes compared to internet giants like Meta, Amazon, Alphabet,
and Apple. But everyday people can fight and win these struggles, as
happened with the Media Ownership Uprising of 2003, and reminders about
these victories can inspire future victories to come.
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