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In the early 1990s, Vice President Al Gore used the term "information superhighway" to champion his plan for a national broadband network. But laying roads is not a government's only function in shaping the new media world. The metaphor needs to be more organic, and the complex role of government exposed. If the Web was born in 1990, this next phase may be referred to as its puberty, marked by growth spurts and identity crises, awkwardness, rebellion and physical change. Infrastructure and regulation will determine how the digital revolution matures.
The next U.S. president will nominate four of the five regulators who lead the Federal Communications Commission. The next administration will set and influence policy, as global mergers and technological developments raise new questions about ownership, commerce, privacy, access and public-interest responsibility. What are the values and priorities that will determine the 21st century mediascape?
Media and technology corporations realize how formative the policies of the next government will be. Communications and electronic industries have spent over $84 million on campaign contributions this election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Looking at the promises and histories of the contenders, MediaChannel affiliates tell us where the candidates stand on media policy.
—Aliza Dichter (liza@mediachannel.org), editor.
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There are two media-policy areas — media violence and high-tech development — that Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are campaigning about, and, perhaps like most topics in this election, they both seem to be saying the same thing.
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Media Violence
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High-Tech Policy
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Democrats
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Republicans
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Greens
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As a major supporter of the bipartisan 1996 Telecommunications Act, Gore has continued to boast of his role in what consumer advocates, activists and prominent Republicans like Bob Dole and John McCain have condemned as disastrously anticonsumer legislation. The Act's sweeping deregulation has led to a massive wave of media and telecom mergers. Gore's embrace of the Act might be linked to the prominence of big media companies on his campaign-funding roster, suggests the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy. The vice president also oversaw the 1998 Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters (PIAC), which resulted in some recommendations for voluntary action (but no regulation, so far). To the Civil Rights Forum, the Democratic presidential candidate's media record is a mixed bag. They commend his leadership in digital-divide initiatives like the E-rate for schools but express concerns over his flip-flopping on online censorship. From Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy More about: United States, Policy/Law, Politics, Multimedia/Internet, Television
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The 1998 winner of the Thomas Jefferson Center's "Jefferson Muzzles" award for "insensitivity" to the First Amendment, Lieberman has been a congressional leader in advocating federal action against sex and violence in entertainment media, the Net and video games. He has endorsed labeling, the V-chip, Net filtering in libraries, content provisions for TV licensing, retail boycotts and federally enforced "voluntary" codes of conduct. But Lieberman insists that he is a staunch First Amendment supporter and his goals are for industry self-restraint, not regulation. From Freedom Forum, August 8 2000
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Although Governor Bush has no history in federal government, an October 24, 2000, Wall Street Journal article tried to extrapolate his telecommunications policy based on his record in Texas and the known positions of his advisors. The article (available here for subscribers, free 30-day subscription available), finds that while a Bush administration might not be totally hands off, it would likely avoid regulation on open access, corporate mergers and antitrust issues. The Journal also suggests that Bush's appointees might welcome "radical" pro-market policies, such as giving the digital radio spectrum for free to TV broadcasters who could then sell it to wireless companies. The Wall Street Journal is a business publication that rarely seeks comment from citizen and consumer advocates, and this article is no exception. Earlier this year, the Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy linked Bush's support for repealing FCC antitrust provisions to massive Republican Party donations by telecommunications firms. Anti-consolidation activists are not the only ones worried about a Bush presidency; free-speech proponents are also concerned. Regarding an anti-Bush site called gwbush.com, Bush has said: "There ought to be limits to freedom." Disability advocates, however, have praised Bush's proposal for an Access to Telecommuting Fund, and though he challenges the Clinton Administration's E-rate educational Net access program, he has promised to improve schools' use of technology.
From Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy More about: United States, Policy/Law, Politics, Multimedia/Internet, Television
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Free-speech advocates are concerned by the Republican vice-presidential nominee's record on media issues during his tenure as secretary of defense. Cheney was criticized for imposing press restrictions during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama; the outcry was even greater over the Cheney-led Pentagon's handling of the Gulf War the following year. That conflict is considered by many to be the foremost example of recent U.S.-government information control, yet Cheney has referred to it as "the best-covered war in history." Of course, the media record of a military leader may not dictate the policy positions of a vice president. From Freedom Forum, August 23 2000
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He's built a career on consumer advocacy and fighting corporate power, so it's no surprise that Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader's media policies resonate with the concerns of media activists. Nader's newspaper columns on media reform are collected in the new "Ralph Nader Reader". In this 1995 interview with David Barsamian, Nader outlines his views on public ownership of the airwaves, including a proposal for a publicly funded alternative to the current public-broadcasting system, the importance of cross-ownership and antitrust rules to offset media consolidation and the absence of corporate-critical or pro-labor coverage in the mainstream media. Since '95, Nader has continued to be vocal on media issues: defending the low-power radio movement, challenging recent media mergers, and founding organizations dedicated to consumer action and government regulation for media diversity, quality and access (see www.essential.org for a list of these groups). From Z Magazine/Znet
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