Olbermann-- Newton Minow's Worst Fears Play Out

I was never much of a TV viewer and in recent decades I almost never watch it. So for me to say I'm finished with NBC because they unceremoniously fired Keith Olbermann-- who still had two years left on his contract-- last night isn't much of a big deal. I'm immune to TV advertising too. I was very much in tune with a speech by a different breed of FCC chair than the corporate shills they have these days. On May 9, 1961-- my sister's birthday-- Newton Minow, JFK's FCC Chair, gave an inspiring speech about television that I've never forgotten, not even when living in remote areas of Afghanistan and Nepal that had never heard of televisions.

"When television is good, nothing-- not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers-- nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials-- many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."

Olbermann wasn't boring. His show was one of the few hours I could ever stand watching TV instead of reading a book or talking with a friend.

NBC says the decision to fire Olbermann, their highest paid and highest rated news host, has nothing to do with the corporate takeover by Comcast Obama's pathetic shadow of an FCC chair approved. Panicked by a loud negative noise, Comcast released a hasty Friday night statement:

“Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal’s news operations. We have not and we will not.”

MSNBC seems to think no one is going to notice the difference between a middle of the road political hack like Lawrence O'Donnell and Olbermann. These guys must all be drunk of the six-figure annual bonuses that they think translate into their own infallibility.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who comes from the same Brooklyn neighborhood that I grew up in and went to James Madison High School just like I did, must also remember that Newton Minow "Vast Wasteland" speech. Last week he was not happy when FCC Chair Julius Genachowski and the Justice Dept. gave the Comcast/NBC merger a thumbs up, pointing out that the two agencies "ignored their mandates to protect the public interest and preserve competition and, instead, caved to an all-out lobbying campaign by Comcast and its political allies. Commissioner Michael Copps, who has long warned against the dangers of media consolidation, was the lone dissenting voice at the FCC."

“Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed in this decision.  At a time when a small number of giant media corporations already control what the American people see, hear, and read, we do not need another conglomerate with more control over the production and distribution of news and other programming.  The mega-merger of Comcast and NBC Universal will lead to less local news coverage, fewer points of view, and reduced competition for viewers and advertising, not just in Comcast’s network but throughout the country. 

“The merger will also make it harder for consumers to afford cable programming.  According to the FCC’s former chief economist, consumers will pay $2.4 billion more in cable bills as a result of the merger. As the country struggles to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, I find it unconscionable that millions of consumers will spend more for less, paying higher rates while receiving virtually no tangible benefits.”

Minnesota Senator Al Franken had much the same worried response last week:

"The FCC's action today is a tremendous disappointment. The Commission is supposed to protect the public interest, not corporate interests. But what we see today is an effort by the FCC to appease the very companies it's charged with regulating. With approval of this merger, the FCC has given a single media conglomerate unprecedented control over the flow of information in America. This will ultimately mean higher cable and Internet bills, fewer independent voices in the media, and less freedom of choice for all American consumers. And it will leave Minnesotans at the mercy of a shrinking number of very powerful media conglomerates.

"We count on competition in this country to keep corporations in check, and we have designed antitrust laws to ensure that companies do not become too big or too powerful. I fear this is only the first domino in a cascade to come. By approving this merger, the FCC may have just given a green light to AT&T and Verizon to pursue similar mergers with ABC/Disney or CBS/Viacom. But, this does not mean the fight is over. A growing number of Americans stand behind me ready to fight any further media consolidation of this kind."

NBC and Comcast know it doesn't matter what two liberal Democratic senators have to say and last night's firing of Olbermann was a giant "Screw You!" from them to... all of us. Don't look to Obama for a solution. One thing about him we've seen over the last two years-- or 4, for those paying closer attention-- he;s pretty loyal to his Wall Street benefactors and he's not doing anything to shake any corporate boats.

If CNN was smart-- they're not-- they'd take advantage of this and build a real network around Olbermann and Spitzer. But, like I said... they're not.