Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps: Why the proposed Comcast-Time-Warner consolidation is a terrible idea

I have twice heard Michael Copps speak at Free Press national conferences. He is a former FCC Commissioner, a thoughtful and principled man who now has grave concerns about media consolidation, including the latest proposed mega-deal wherein Comcast hopes to buy Time-Warner. Here are Copps' words on this latest terrible development:

You may wonder why a long-time regulator like me is writing to you. ... I worked at the intersection of policy and journalism as a member of the Federal Communications Commission and saw first-hand how my agency’s decisions limited your ability to accomplish good things. Since I stepped down two years ago, the situation has only gotten worse. I want to do something about it. I want you to do something about it, too. Let me tell you what I saw. I was sworn in as a commissioner in 2001. “What an awesome job this is going to be,” I thought, “dealing with edge-of-the-envelope issues, meeting the visionaries and innovators transforming the ways we communicate, and then making it all happen by helping to craft policies to bring the power of communications to every American.” It was a heady time.... New media would complement the traditional media of newspapers, radio, TV, and cable, ushering in a golden age of communications. ... The FCC that I joined had a different agenda. It had fallen as madly in love with industry consolidation, as had the swashbuckling captains of big media. The agency seldom met an industry transaction it didn’t approve. The Commission’s blessing not only conferred legitimacy on a particular transaction; it encouraged the next deal, and the hundreds after that. So Clear Channel grew from a 1970s startup to a 1,200-station behemoth. Sinclair, Tribune, and News Corp. went on buying sprees, too, and the major networks extended their influence by buying some stations and affiliating with others. Gone are hundreds of once-independent broadcast outlets. In their stead is a truncated list of nationwide, homogenized, and de-journalized empires that respond more to quarterly reports than to the information needs of citizens.

Continue ReadingFormer FCC Commissioner Michael Copps: Why the proposed Comcast-Time-Warner consolidation is a terrible idea

Photographing the St. Louis Central Branch Library

Today, I brought my camera to the refurbished City Library in downtown St. Louis. Such an exquisite building. I noticed quite a few homeless people sitting in the Great Hall. Many of them were just sitting quietly, and only a few were reading. When a guard passed by I commented, "It seems like a lot of folks are here because it's warm in here." He paused, then said, "The thing about those homeless people . . . [pause], is that [pause] many of them are really good at using the computers." He took me around the corner and showed me that none of the computer terminals were empty, and it seemed as though many of them were being used by homeless people.

IMG_0718 Library

I brought a tripod to take HDR photos today. This building is extraordinary. IMG_0760_1_2_tonemapped Library HDR

IMG_0611_2_3_fused Library hdr Lightroom

  IMG_0641_2_3_fused Library HDR IMG_0742_3_4_fused Library HDR

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Shocking Video: Afghan villagers attack defenseless U.S. drone

I can't say it any better than Lee Camp: Why do we do these things? it's the same reason the NSA is out of control, and corporate spending on politicians. it's because we CAN.  That's a sorry excuse for doing anything at all. In the case of our drone that are "defending our freedom," it's warmongering run amok. Shame on us, and it's hurting us in the long run, despite the momentary excitement that our military must feel when they blow some to bits from their control board back in Las Vegas. All in a day's work, as is the job of trying to justify why that man (or that wedding party) was a danger to America.

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Improving Psychological Research

From the UK Guardian:

A growing number of psychologists – particularly the younger generation – are fed up with results that don’t replicate, journals that value story-telling over truth, and an academic culture in which researchers treat data as their personal property. Psychologists are realising that major scientific advances will require us to stamp out malpractice, face our own weaknesses, and overcome the ego-driven ideals that maintain the status quo.

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