Christopher Cummings Blog

Voting reform and media reform are two of the most important issues facing the state of the union, IMHO. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is planning to tackle the latter issue by reintroducing the Media Ownership Reform Act (MORA) that would break up media monopolies and restore the Fairness Doctrine, which was eliminated by the Federal Communications Commission under the Reagan administration and helped encourage the current media monopolies and helped give a platform to the hate talk of Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, and others.

MORA would restore the Fairness Doctrine, reinstate a national cap on ownership of radio stations, lower the number of radio stations that one company can own in a local market, and reinstate the 25 percent national cap on television ownership, among other restrictions. The bill’s no-grandfathering provision would compel media conglomerates to divest to comply with new ownership limitations.

MORA would also require public interest reports from broadcasters and require more independently produced programming on TV. In addition, it establishes new public interest obligations to assure that broadcasters meet the needs of local communities and requires increased, sustained public input and outreach to give the people a voice in programming.