Hammer Museum Forum on Media Ownership

Check out this video of Reed's speech at the UCLA/Hammer Forum on June 5th. Here, he takes a stand against the FCC's Newspaper Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule which dictates that no entity can own both a newspaper and a TV/radio outlet in the same local market. He claims that the rule was very important to maintaining diversity and avoiding monopoly in the media when it was established in the 1970s, but with the growth of internet and new media, there are an infinite number of unique voices, rendering the rule obsolete.

The speech generated some controversy among contenders to purchase Tribune Company newspapers such as the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune. Reed claims that Rupert Murdoch of Fox News or the Koch brothers of Koch Industries should both have the right to purchase additional media outlets, despite their already widespread reach of populations in the same local markets. While Reed doesn't necessarily align with these parties ideologically, he does not believe it should be in the hands of the FCC to decide who does and does not have the right to purchase a newspaper or television network. Still, many liberal opponents of these conservative powerhouses would like to prevent the purchases.

Where do you fall on the issue?

Link to UCLA Hammer Museum Event Video: http://hammer.ucla.edu/watchlisten/watchlisten/show_id/1769150/show_type/video?browse=none&category=0&search=