04.10.09
Finally- A Better Road Map of Minority Media Ownership Data
Stop Big Media » Blog Archive » A Better Road Map of Minority Media Ownership Data.
In the process of conducting these studies, we learned that the commission had collected inaccurate date on minority and female ownership since 1998. Many stations had filled out their ownership forms incorrectly – omitting key diversity data — but the FCC had failed to monitor or verify the accuracy of the submitted information. Instead, the agency released ownership figures that were simply wrong.
The GAO has three reports confirming this and the fact that the main hindrance to minority media ownership is the lack of access to capital. What worse is that when stations were being sold, minority media owners were not privy to the sale of these stations until the deal was about to close. The most disappointing fact is that there was a tax deferment for those who sold their stations to minority companies, but the provision was repealed in 1995. A year before the great FCC giveaway in 1996 where we saw conglomerates such as Clear Channel and Citadel become media powerhouses.
As a prelude to the mortgage crisis, many of the stations were sold far above their value which may be the reason the Citadel is near bankruptcy. I have seen this first hand in Central Arkansas. There is no local progressive radio here. The one station that served the black community and the home for most of the black churches was sold right out of the community.
The funny thing about was that no one who claims to be from the religious right came to assist their brothers in the same way the lead the charge in our neighborhoods for all of the evils of abortion and gay marriage. The main thing on talk radio in Little Rock is a call to arms. Lock and load.