The Fight Is On

I suppose they had to interrupt the President's daily PS2 play time to tell him of Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation. After all, he's been waiting for a SCOTUS vacancy for five years. It will be a fight like you've never seen before...and hopefully progressives will be ready.

FCC to Revisit Media Ownership Rules

At the heels of an announcement by media conglomerate Clear Channel that it was interested in purchasing the ABC radio division from Disney, the FCC is set to begin its court-ordered look-see at media ownership.

A top FCC official says the process could take up eight months or more to complete.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote July 14 on launching a broad reconsideration of rules that limit common ownership of multiple TV stations in a locality, and that restrict cross-ownership of TV, radio and other media within a community, said Kathleen Abernathy, an FCC commissioner.

Abernathy said the agency would conduct a "very open and broad" reconsideration of the ownership rules.

The FCC in 2003 voted to loosen the regulations, but a federal appeals court blocked the rules and sent them back, saying the agency had not sufficiently justified the limits it set.

The forthcoming rulemaking includes consideration of the rule barring common ownership of broadcast stations and nearby daily newspapers, Abernathy said.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has expressed in concluding the agency's work on the newspaper-broadcast rule, and he could separate it from the other rules as the proceeding matures.

Abernathy, a Republican who is serving past the end of her term as the White House searches for a successor, said she expects a replacement to be named by the end of the summer.

Source: MediaWeek

ABC Pulls Discriminatory Reality Show Before It Debuts

I guess this is reality show Friday on the blog.

Under pressure from several advocacy groups, ABC announced today that it has pulled the plug on "Welcome to the Neighborhood" even before the first episode aired.

The show seemed to be on the verge of promoting racial and anti-homosexual messages and had drawn criticism from groups claiming it risked fostering prejudice.

ABC acknowledged the delicate nature of the series in which families asked to pick a new neighbor are made to expose and overcome their biases. The six-episode show, which was to debut July 10, follows three families in Austin, Texas, who are given the chance to choose a new neighbor for a house on their street.

Each family initially wants someone similar to them -- white and conservative. Instead, they must choose from families that are black, Hispanic and Asian; two gay white men who've adopted a black child; a couple covered in tattoos and piercings; a couple who met at the woman's initiation as a witch; and a poor white family.

Apparently, Reality TV IS Good for Something

The latest issue of The Economist claims the medium seems to be the ultimate focus group for Tony Blair's government.

Full story here.

Gay TV Network to Debut This Week

Long in the works, Logo will initially be seen in about 10 million homes with digital cable. Unlike Here and Q, two pay-per-view, gay-oriented networks already operating, Logo will be available in homes that do not specifically order it.

Read the full story: AP via YAHOO!

Visit the network's website: www.logoonline.com

Media Fairness Continues to Be Pondered by Public

While the public views much of the news media favorably, they are less inclined to consider those sources of news believable, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Read the full story: AP Via MSNBC