[icernet] US broadcasters' war stance under scrutiny

[Arul Selvan]

  Rupert Murdoch's Fox network is among the US media giants accused of 
tailoring its war coverage to curry favour with Michael Powell, the 
George Bush-appointed chairman of America's media regulator who is 
facing mounting pressure to scrap media ownership rules. Mr Powell, the 
son of US secretary of state Colin Powell, is under intense lobbying 
pressure from the US broadcasting industry to abolish safeguards that 
restrict limits on the number of TV and radio stations a company can own 
in a market. Fox, together with network heavyweights CBS and NBC, is 
pressing the US federal communications commission to dump rules that 
prevent a TV broadcaster from owning another network or a radio station 
and newspaper in the same market.

Under the existing US regulatory regime, no broadcaster may reach more 
than 35% of the national audience and there are strict limits on how 
many TV and radio stations a company can own in any market. The Centre 
for Digital Democracy, a non-profit agency in the US that promotes 
diversity in digital media, believes news organisations in the US have a 
"serious conflict of interest" when it comes to reporting the policies 
of the Bush administration. Mr Murdoch has been criticised for imposing 
his pro-war stance on all News Corporation-owned media outlets. His 
unbridled support for President Bush has also raised eyebrows about the 
timing of his £4.1bn bid to control US satellite operator DirecTV, which 
is unlikely to be rejected by the FCC later this year.

"It is likely that decisions about how to cover the war on Iraq - 
especially on television - may be tempered by a concern not alienate the 
White House," said Jeffrey Chester, the centre's executive director, in 
a recent article. "These media giants stand to make untold billions if 
the FCC safeguards are eliminated or weakened." Mr Chester accused the 
US media of adopting a "narrow-minded commercial mindset" , reflected by 
their failure to "effectively analyse and criticise the Iraq war policy" 
ahead of an impending ruling by the FCC on the media ownership regime. 
Sumner Redstone, the chairman of CBS owner Viacom, recently urged the US 
government to lift the ban on foreign ownership limits to allow British 
companies to buy into American TV and newspaper groups.

Proposed reforms to allow American companies to buy ITV or Channel Five 
for the first time are also being considered but face fierce opposition 
in the House of Lords. Disney, which owns the ABC network, is calling 
for the relaxation of all broadcast ownership rules and is vehemently 
against a proposal to open network prime time to independent producers. 
Likewise the Gannett group, which owns USA Today, has argued against the 
rule that prevents a broadcaster from owning a TV station in the same 
market.

Source:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,935101,00.html