To fight against the potential further FCC loosening of consolidation rules in it’s upcoming June 2 meeting, MoveOn.org and Common Cause have banded together to create a new campaign featuring Rupert Murdoch. The TV spots show Murdoch on all channels with the viewer clicking his remote in a vain effort to switch to a non-Murdoch channel.
The voiceover reads, “On June 2nd, the Republicans on the FCC plan to get rid of an important regulation so that Rupert Murdoch can buy more TV stations, radio stations and newspapers, giving him control over much of the news you hear. This monopoly is no game.”
Murdoch’s company, News Corp owns Fox TV, eight cable networks, 34 TV stations, newspapers, movies studios…and the list goes on.
The campaign does have a point. Every where you look, there is intense media consolidation. The benefit is supposed to be lower costs of operation and better cross-media deals for advertisers. Rather, it has produced a lack of individuality and a sameness across many media outlets. Competition is a good thing. There is less and less of that with this move towards mega-consolidation. [via AdWeek]
