Last Week in Media
by Arron Wings

There are major issues surfacing in the regulation and future of media this fall.

The FCC is reviewing and rewriting the “ownership rules”  they got wrong in 2003 and are now before them again. 

Broadcast licenses for all TV and radio stations in Iowa are up for renewal this winter.  The deadline for stations to request renewal is October 1, 2005, and the deadline for public comment and participation is January 1, 2006. 

But there are also other issues that will have long-term consequences for us the public.  

The Truth in Broadcasting Act of 2005 (S. 967) currently before the Senate Commerce Committee will mandate the identification of all pre-packaged “news releases” (VNRs) created by the government and broadcast on our airwaves.  The need for this action arose when both the Justice Department and the FCC failed to protect consumers from products that the Government Accounting Office has said violate a prohibition on “covert propaganda.”  The Justice Department has said an unattributed VNR is not covert propaganda as long as it is fact-based, and the FCC does not require disclosure unless the VNR is on a political or controversial topic.  

The Act attempts to eliminate the ambiguity created by those two departments and mandates that all VNRs produced by or for a branch of government is identified as such.  It requires that “Produced by the U.S. Government” or similar language is displayed on all VNRs regardless of topic or content. 

Click here for more information or to join the fight against government propaganda.

Arron Wings lives in Iowa City and is a member of Iowans for Better Local TV.