• Tucson Falls Victim to Covert Consolidation

    Libby Reinish
    November 17, 2011

    Raycom Media has taken control of three TV stations in Tucson in a covert consolidation deal. The new virtual triopoly will result in dozens of layoffs, as local anchor Lou Raguse noted on the air yesterday.

    When Raycom takes over operations of Belo-owned KMSB and KTTU, Raycom’s station KOLD will produce all of the news for the three stations. "KOLD will, by contract, provide certain services to support the operations of KMSB and KTTU, including producing local news in high definition, in-depth weather, traffic and sports, and website administration,” said a Belo spokesperson in an email to Broadcasting & Cable.

  • Airing Industry's Dirty Laundry

    Libby Reinish
    November 10, 2011

    This is big. Yesterday our campaign to uncover covert media consolidation in communities around the country made the New York Times.

    This chronically ignored crisis is getting a national spotlight. And it would never have happened had it not been for the thousands of activists who spoke out against the practice of covert consolidation and helped us document its impact on local news broadcasts across the country.

  • What's Your Local TV Station Hiding?

    Libby Reinish
    October 27, 2011

    Broadcasters use the public airwaves for free in exchange for a commitment to serve and inform their communities. If you want to know exactly what your local broadcasters are doing to meet those public-interest obligations, the best place to look is their public files.

    Unfortunately, public files are currently difficult to access, requiring curious residents to drive down to the station during business hours. In large media markets, a trip to view the public file could mean traveling over 100 miles.

  • The Great Local News Heist

    Libby Reinish
    October 20, 2011

    The FOX station in Charleston, S.C. is airing one set of news at 10 p.m., and then the CBS affiliate across town is broadcasting the same news — same anchors, same scripts, same everything — an hour later. We received video footage from activists in South Carolina that shows just how similar these supposedly independent newscasts are.

  • Music to Industry's Ears

    Libby Reinish
    October 12, 2011

    The last time I scanned through my local radio dial, I heard the same pop song, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” playing simultaneously on three different radio stations. If a couple of senators and their friends in the broadcast industry have their way, soon we could hear the same song on six or more stations.

  • Pittsburgh Stands Up for Media Reform

    Libby Reinish
    October 3, 2011

    Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps will be the first to tell you that his own agency needs to do more to improve the country’s media system. Last Monday, he told a room full of Pittsburgh residents that a key part of the remedy is citizen action.

    “If we are to ever have media of the people, by the people and for the people, you need to take this fight on,” Copps told the crowd at a town hall-style dialogue sponsored by Free Press. “The stakes could not be higher ... If we are denied quality news and information, if we are denied in-depth investigative reporting and if we are denied a media environment wherein independent voices can speak and be heard, then we won’t be able to sustain an
    informed electorate.”

  • What's Behind Newport TV's Covert Consolidation?

    Libby Reinish
    Mike Soha
    July 14, 2011

    When Free Press’ Change the Channels initiative shined an uncomfortable spotlight on Newport TV’s business practices, the company responded with threats and demanded that YouTube take down our video exposing it. In the week since, buzz has been building around how Newport used a baseless copyright threat to try to silence a critic.

    The Change the Channels campaign highlights covert consolidation going on in over 80 communities involving 200 stations. It is worth looking into why Newport reacted so strongly to being identified as a covert consolidator. 

  • Failed once by consolidation, flooded Minot turns to local TV

    Libby Reinish
    June 27, 2011

    Minot, N.D., became a symbol of the dangers of media consolidation in 2002, when a nearby train derailment released toxic anhydrous ammonia into the air. Minot’s six Clear Channel-owned stations continued to air automated programming while a deadly gas cloud spread across town, killing one person and injuring a thousand.

    Failed once by absentee-owned corporate media,  Minot is today facing another emergency--severe flooding.  But this time, the community is better informed, thanks largely to news coverage by a small, locally owned TV station, KXMC.

  • Change the Channels

    Libby Reinish
    June 22, 2011

    Grab your remotes, and get ready to change the channels; there’s a new struggle against increased media consolidation, and chances are it’s coming to your town. In fact, it’s quite possible that TV stations in your own backyard have already consolidated, and you may not even know it’s happened. That’s because media companies have circumvented the Federal Communications Commission’s ownership rules in over 80 markets, quietly shuttering newsrooms at the expense of independent, local journalism.

  • The Golden Age of PR?

    Libby Reinish
    May 3, 2011

    Today, World Press Freedom Day is being celebrated, but a new article suggests that a free press crippled by shrinking newsrooms may be no match for the booming public relations industry. The article, published by ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism Review, reports that PR people now outnumber journalists by more than three to one. As a result, the line between news stories and public relations spin is becoming increasingly difficult to discern.

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