wOw's Views on the News: Rupert Murdoch Bids $580M for Newsday

Mugsy, right - it is time for more letters. I say time to get rid of the whole bunch up in Washington and start over from the beginning. Can we do that?

Mugsy—”…and not a shot fired.” What Murdoch got for generous donations to the pols backed up by editorial support. Nevertheless he may have bought pigs in a poke because News Corps shares are doing very poorly. How many readers here take conventional newspapers anymore?

There are many laws on the books to prevent anti-trust and monopoly practices. But they never have been enforced against the media, because of its power. The newspaper industry was the only industry in the country allowed to get away with using child labor — and outdoors in dangerous urban areas in the wee hours too. The Congress and Justice Department allowed so-callled joint operating agreements between major newspapers in cities with the consequence that a kill-or-be-killed battle began until most cities were down to one paper. Laws such as the Clayton and Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Robinson-Patman Acts were ignored. The air waves were considered public property, and they were treated that way until about 30 years ago. There used to be an “equal time” requirement for viewpoints expressed on radio. Now, radio and right-wing are synonymous except for the internet phenomenons like Air America. And Rupert Murdoch has continued to run amuck. Yet, the worst feature is that the electronic media has dumbed down the entire American population as good journalism is hard to find. And the New York Times just reported record losses. Without some political intervention, it will get worse before it gets better.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Bill Moyers, one of the most intelligent and reasoned voices in the media, was forced off PBS, because of his alleged political provacations. He is back, thank heavens! Olbermann is the lone exception to the rule of right-wing rule of the air waves and of most newspapers and magazines.

In this case we are talking about capitalism and free markets, not the government. Our government was designed to avoid the concentration of power—3 branches, checks and balances, remember that? Controlling free enterprise is what they do in socialist countries, not free ones. When you start allowing the government to decide who is allowed to do or buy what, you are creating the very situation you are talking about.