Today, in theory, a radio or TV station can have no more than 20% of it owned by non citizens and a radio holding company can be no more than 25% owned by foreigners. In no case can a foreign government own or provide programming. (Unless it is the BBC on Public Radio or Current TV on cable)
The rule itself is becoming fairly pointless as more and more radio stations are funded by debt funneled through private equity firms and the stock is just a formality. Who really “owns” Clear Channel? At least when it went private, Deutsche Bank and two other European banks were in the 5 bank syndicate.
Back in the Reagan area, they did actually enforce this rule. Univision was determined to be defacto owned by Mexicans, and the owners had to sell it – to of all people the Hallmark Greeting Card company, which shortly thereafter declared bankruptcy.
All that may be interesting history, but the connection is the FCC chairman’s reason for putting this topic in play is he thinks relaxing the rule would promote more minority ownership. Let’s see… Who might he be referring to? Russians? Chinese? Kenyans? Mexicans?
Carlos Slim is smiling today. All those AM radio towers will work great for his Tracfone cell phone customers. Don’t look for a story about this in the New York Times, which is now owned 12.5% by the richest man in the world.
More like Obama is wanting to sell off more of American industries possibly to his bosses in China.
I get much of my news from Russia Today, http://rt.com/ and Al Jazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/
Neither is a Hollywood studio depending on the people they cover for special internet content snooping, special intellectual property laws, special movie tax codes, and special movie production incentives, or even worries about being cut off of hearing the news first. That give them old school journalistic freedom that the chrony movie studio news bureau can never have.
So, maybe the R states will actually make a break for the Exit someday soon.
Yeah, what Lasong said.
This is not going to end well.
Parrott
I am more optimistic than you. The world goes through cycles, some that span generations. There are systemic issues that will change and looking back, most of the changes have been for the better. We live longer and have less stressful lives than people on the planet 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago. For example, the air is cleaner, medicine is better, there is less chance of a large nuclear war, and much of the world’s information is easily accessible now… I call that progress.
While there have been enormous changes in the past 100-200 years to vastly elevate the standard of living for certain people, life has also become more complicated in the developed countries. Many people still live in abject poverty, albeit most of it is due to corrupt leadership that oppresses people. Many people the lack the proper resources to elevate their standard of living. Energy is a key, limiting factor. Sure, my analysis is over-simplification, but still true.
So, allow me a bit of latitude here since I disagree with some of what you wrote:
Yes, I’m a big believer in cycles….but, ‘things’ have not changed politically and the Banksters are still running their age-old schemes to fleece and defraud the common man. The Banksters continue to bribe the politicos in order to get their schemes ‘officially’ approved.
The big question is, are the intelligence services/military/politicos in control or are the Banksters in control? My bet is the Banksters are running ‘da Show’.
Agreed. Someone has to run the show and the answer comes back to people with money. Money = power. It was that way before you and I were born and will be that way long after we are gone. Bankers control money and will always have a larger say than someone impoverished and unable to feed himself or herself.
Corruption? Never existed when we were kids, only since we have become adults? I think the answer is that we didn’t understand how things worked as kids. Even back then, Superman knew that the battle between good and evil would never end. 😉
It’s becoming painfully apparent that the banks are now running most of the world’s governments. This goes back in our country as far as Alexander Hamilton. He invisioned that he would be controlling the Bank of the United States, patterned after the Bank of England, holding the assets of the US Treasury. Hamilton already ran the Bank of New York, founded while the British soldiers were leaving to go home.
Eventually Thomas Jefferson and James Madison came to realize that Hamilton and Supreme Court Justice John Jay didn’t share their visin of what the United States should be. John Jay was from a mercantile family and negotiated a trade treaty with England while still on the court – alienating those who remembered it was France who provided the money and troops that won our revolution against English rule and provoking further conflict between England and France.
Alexander Hamilton was shot and killed by sitting Vice President Aaron Burr – and it wasn’t over some love triangle with a woman
Yep! the French were backing the enemy of their enemy. And, your last sentence gave me some inspiration – why not bring the old fashioned duel back into fashion? Lord knows we need some help eliminating a few scoundrels in the country.
Let’s adapt the duels for the next primary season. Instead of endless candidate debates, we can have a March Madness round robin of televised duals to select each party’s candidate. 😉
On a serious note, the anthrax that was mailed to Congressional leaders after 9/11 was mailed from the Hamilton post office.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-14-anthrax-cleanup_x.htm