Dorgan Applauds Senate Vote on Concentration of Broadcast Ownership

DORGAN APPLAUDS SENATE VOTE ON CONCENTRATION OF BROADCAST OWNERSHIP

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan applauded Tuesday's action by the U.S. Senate to limit the concentration of media ownership. The Senate approved, by unanimous consent, Dorgan's amendment which would reverse Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules approved last June which would have cleared the way for even greater concentration of media ownership.

"Last June, the FCC performed one of the most complete cave-ins to corporate interests against the public interest in the history of the country," Dorgan said. "The Senate, to its credit, has taken a series of strong, bipartisan actions to roll back the FCC rules. Today the Senate expressed itself again, in the strongest possible terms, saying that it wants the FCC's cave-in reversed and wants it reversed now."

"When the number of people and corporations who control what 293 million Americans see and hear in the media shrinks to just a relative handful, democracy suffers," Dorgan said. "It is clear that as media ownership is more and more removed from local communities, those owners become more removed and less in touch with local community standards. Increasing levels of indecency is the result."

"Today's action is an important victory for the American people, for efforts to strengthen standards of decency on the public's airwaves and for localism in broadcasting," Dorgan said.