Washington, May 22, 2003 - It is adamantly not in the public interest to grant a few corporations the privilege to broadcast their views and augment their voice to the American people at the expense of the many, stated Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) in comments filed with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) today.

As the FCC is about to announce new rules regarding media ownership, Kucinich filed official comments denouncing further deregulation of the industry.

“Walking further down the path of deregulation skews the national discourse and is directly contrary to the welfare of the public,” Kucinich stated in his comments. “It is adamantly not in the public interest to grant a few corporations the privilege to broadcast their views and augment their voice to the American people at the expense of the many.”

In today’s comments Kucinich pointed to Clear Channel Communications as a prime example of deregulation gone array. After the 1996 Telecommunication Act removed all national ownership limitations a furious consolidation of the radio industry followed and Clear Channel Communication saturated may local media markets, and now owns more than 1200 stations nationwide.

It is clear, in the wake of deregulation, Clear Channel’s government granted monopoly of the airwaves works directly against the FCC’s primary mission of promoting diversity and localism.

“Clear Channel’s national and dominant presence, a direct result of deregulation, threatens an imbalance in the public discourse – an imbalance caused by the government granting one corporation the power to dominate the public airwaves, and the privilege to amplify its voice on public property,” stated Kucinich.

“Clear Channel has been able to exercise control over how its views are disseminated by taking advantage of economies of scale, and reducing the number of voices who are given the privilege of speaking on Clear Channel stations. It is well documented that Clear Channel has removed on-air personalities from stations that it has bought, and replaced those local announcers with more centralized voices who are not local, and who may have never even visited the area from which they are purporting to broadcast. The fewer people who are granted access internally, the more control that a centralized management has on what views those people are allowed to espouse. It is evident that centralized voices are not local, and do not have the same incentive to serve the area as those who live in the area and are invested in its future. Economies of scale may benefit the bottom line and enrich the corporation. But enriching corporations is not the FCC’s mission,” continued Kucinich in his comments.

The FCC is scheduled to announce its new proposed rule next week.