MEDIA ACTIVISTS SEND NAB A REMINDER: The Airwaves Belong to the Public

In support of this week's demonstrations at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual radio convention in San Francisco, some of the U.S.'s most committed advocates for democratic media have written an open letter to the NAB to remind the group that "this country's airwaves are the property of the American people."

Drafted by FAIR, the letter is signed by a variety of activists and analysts, including noted media scholars Ben Bagdikian, Noam Chomsky and Robert W. McChesney; Media Alliance; People for Better TV; Global Exchange; the National Lawyers Guild Center for Democratic Communications; and several low power radio groups, including Americans for Radio Diversity.

The letter notes that it is thanks in large part to the multi-million dollar lobbying efforts of NAB that commercial broadcasting has been reshaped over the last few years by deregulation and consolidation, undemocratically shifting the balance of power to a handful of companies with interests and investments spread across the media landscape.

"The broadcasters represented by the NAB get free access to our airwaves-what does the public get in return?" asks the letter, pointing out that "dissenting political viewpoints are routinely marginalized" in mainstream media, and "the interests and perspectives of women, people of color, labor, local communities, and lesbians, gays and bisexuals are consistently underrepresented." It is clear, says the letter, that the industry is "more interested in delivering viewers to advertisers than in serving the needs of the public."

Among the issues addressed are the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the NAB's ongoing campaign to further deregulate telecommunications, and the NAB's efforts to stymie campaign finance reform and low power radio-an area in which, notes the letter, "the NAB's commitment to keeping non-commercial, community-based voices off the air is distressingly clear."

"The public's awareness that corporate media has failed them increases day by day, and with it comes the understanding that the NAB-one of the most powerful influences in Washington-is a key player in consolidating corporate control of our airwaves. That's why citizens will come together in San Francisco to voice their opposition to corporate management of the public's airwaves, and to reopen the debate over who exactly should get access to this precious resource."

To read the full text of the letter, visit www.fair.org/nab.html