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Wake-up call for broadcast industry
_ B y B
_ ernice P _ owell J . ackson __________________________________
rnnirl
rapid rnnsolidatinn
consolidation of of ownership,
ownership, higher
higher station
station price;
prices
and
more
competition
for
advertising
revenues.
Indeed,
for T h e P ortland O bserver
the broadcasting industry is now dominated by non­
Over the past eleven weeks the more than five million
minority owned companies that own three or more stations
listeners o f the Tom Joyner syndicated radio show heard
in one market, giving them more power to hire the best staff
Joyner and the show's political commentator, Tavis Smiley,
and
to buy nationally syndicated programming. It is not
talk about black economic power and the lack o f respect
inconceivable
that many black-owned radio stations could
that too many corporations have for our community. As
not
afford
to
buy
the Tom Joyner show, for example.
a case in point, Joyner and Smiley focused on CompUSA,
Fact4:
Other
communities
ofcolorare in the same situation,
the computer and computer supplies retail chain, which
or
worse.
The
nation
currently
has only one native
has done little or no advertising in the black community
American
broadcast
station
owner.
In the year 1997-98
despite the millions o f dollars spent there by African
there
was
a
loss
o
f
15
Hispanic
commercial
broadcast
American consumers. Joyner and Smiley wanted to meet
station owners. Asian broadcasters lost one o f three
with CompUSA President James Halpin to talk about that,
owners.
but Halpin stonewalled the Joyner show and refused to
Fact 5: The most established television owners o f color are
talk.
selling their stations and almost two-thirds o f commercial
Week before last it all came to a head when ABC Radio,
radio
stations owned by people o f color are single station
which syndicates the Joyner show to some 99 markets
owners
in a world which is rapidly changing. With the
nationally, threatened to take the Joyner show off the air
consolidation
o f radio ownership and the higher station
unless they stopped their campaign against CompUSA.
prices,
increased
competition for both radio and television
ABC officials allegedly had been threatened with a law
stations,
there
are
fewer new owners ofcolor entering the
suit by CompUS A, which CompUSA denies. Finally, after
market.
being deluged with calls, faxes and e-mails from Joyner
The question for our communities, then, must be, can we
listeners, ABC and CompU S A both backed off and Halpin
allow ourselves to become disenfranchised in the
even appeared on the Joyner show himself. Whatever
information age by huge companies which own the radio
happened behind the scenes, the real learning for African
and broadcast stations in our community? ABC radio, for
Americans and other people ofcolor as we go in to the 21 “
example, is in the top ten largest radio groups in the nation,
century - the information age where communications and
owning some 29 stations with a revenue o f over $300
technology will be evermore important— is that we can no
million in 1997. With that kid o f power, they believed they
longer allow others to take control o f our information
could threaten Tom Joyner, and it was only because o f his
sources and our access to technology.
steadfastness and refusal to buckle under, that our
Fact 1: O f the 1,524 commercial radio and television
community was able to force CompUSA to talk to us and
stations in the US., only 3 3 7 are owned by people ofcolor.
take us seriously.
While the number o f commercial television stations rose
If you’re concerned about the fate o f minority-owned
slightly between 1997-1998, the number owned by people
radio
and television stations, then you must stand up and
o f color decreased.
be
counted.
The Federal Communications Commission
Fact 2: Black ownership o f commercial radio and television
(FCC), which is chaired by an African American, needs to
has not kept pace with the industry and is losing ground.
hear voices o f protest and concern from our communities.
Access to capital remains one o f the most significant
It’s about politics and it’s about economics. It’s about
impediments, particularly in a rapidly consolidating
respect and it’s about power. Maybe it ’ s a wake-up call for
industry where fewer owners own more broadcast outlets.
us all about who owns the media in our communities.
Fact 3: Since the passage o f the Telecommunications Act
(You can write the Federal Communications Commission
o f 1996, which directed the Federal Communications
at 445 12"1 Street S W, Washington, DC 20554 or call (202)
Commission to “eliminate the national multiple ownership
418-0190.)
rule and relax the local ownership rule,” there has been a
Elvis, Hitler, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
by
E arl O fari H utchinson ______________
for T he
Send address changes
A rtic le s d o not
n e ce ssa rily re fle c t o r
re p re se n t th e v ie w s o f
P ortland O bserver
If the voting booth closed and the
ballots were counted today for Time
Magazine’s Person o f the Century”
either Elvis Presley or Adolph Hitler
would be runaway vote getters over
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Both men
each have nearly doubled the number
o f votes that King has gotten for
Time M agazine’s top spot.
Since Time announced its national
poll for “Person o f the Century” earlier
this year, King’s vote total has barely
budged. The editors insist that the
poll is just that, a poll, and they will
make and announce their final
selection in December. But the fact
that he has barely made the top ten
list tells much about how little the
towering contributions King has
made to the movements for social
change in th is c e n tu ry are
appreciated.
A King selection for the top spot
should have less to do with what the
editors at Time think about him than
what the millions globally who have
benefited from the movements for
civil rights, peace and justice think
abouthim. Still, Time’s “Personofthe
C e n tu ry ” d erby is a p ric e le ss
o p p o rtu n ity to e d u c a te young
persons and remind adults o f K ing’s
eternal legacy o f peace and social
justice and the need to continue the
struggle to fulfill that legacy.
Yet King’s contributions remain in
mortal danger ofbeing shoved to the
wayside ofhistory. M uchofthe public
tightly labels him as a “black leader,”
a civil rights” leader, or say that he
simply imitated Gandhi. These are
huge myths. King certainly was a
staunch practitioner o f G andhi's
tactics o f non-violent resistance and
non-accommodation to injustice. But
he took his teacher’s message and
refined, broadened and stretched it
into a global moral imperative for all
humankind. That moral imperative
stretched way beyond the limits o f
the civil rights movement.
W hen he form ed the S outhern
Christian Leadership Conference in
1957, King staked out the moral high
ground for the infant modem day
civil rights movement. It was classic
good versus evil. M any w hite
Americans were sickened by the gory
news scenes o f baton welding racist
Southern sheriffs, firehouses, police
dogs, and KJan violence unleashed
against peaceful black protesters.
K ing m ade it p o ssib le , even
obligatory, for millions o f persons
throughout the world to condemn
racial segregation as immoral and
in d e fe n sib le . The c iv il rig h ts
m ovem ent spurred students and
workers in Asia, Africa, and Latin
A m erica to oppose the m ilitary
stro n g m e n ,
d ic ta to rs
and
demagogues in their countries. He
inspired liberation priests in Latin
America, and student demonstrators
in Europe. He deeply influenced the
struggle against Apartheid in South
A fric a . N e lso n M andela has
repeatedly said that he owes a
profound debt o f gratitude to King.
Mandela is not the only major leader
to say that. Caesar Chavez, a leader
much deserv ing ofpraise and gratitude
for his sel fless contributions to peace
and social justice, made his greatest
mark as champion o f the farmworkers
and labor organizing battles. Nearly
all o f the main anti-war leaders
expressed their debt o f gratitude to
King. They recognized that his brave
and outspoken opposition to the
Vietnam War and militarism gave a
huge boost to the anti-war movement.
The leaders o f the gay rights, and
women’s movements also owe a debt
o f gratitude to King. They too were
inspired by him and borrowed heavily
from the tactics o f the civil rights
movement.
With due respect to Elvis, and (ugh)
Hitler, this is what we should tell the
editors at Time Magazine when they
pick their “Person o f the Century.”
T im e
M ag azin e
Em ail:
letters@time.com Fax: 212-522-8949
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally
syndicated columnist and the director
o f the National Alliance for Positive
Action. On October 27, the National
Alliance held a Martin Luther King
“Person o f the Century” Walk. The
group called for similar walks and
com m em oration in other cities
between October 27 and 30 to urge
everyone to tell Time Magazine to
make King
the " “ D—'
Person o f the
—
— *u
C e n tu ry .”
E m ail:
ehutchi344@aol.com
Using older
women as a front
by
M artha B urk
for T he
P ortland O bserver
Older women may think they should be feeling pretty good these days; both
the government and advocacy groups have suddenly discovered them.
First we have “Flo," a fictional character popping up on TV screens to lobby
against including prescription coverage under Medicare. Flo is sponsored
by a pharmaceutical industry front-group calling itself Citizens for a Better
Medicare. The so-called “citizens: in the group include the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers Association (Pharma), the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, and the National Association o f Manufacturers. Real seniors’
groups are so upset about this sham that they have organized picket lines
against Pharma, just to let people know their concern for the bottom line -
not the plight o f older women - is the driving force behind Flo’s claim that
she doesn’t want government in her medicine cabinet.
The Clinton administration is also targeting older women with its message
that we must “save Social Security first,” instead of granting a big tax cut
to rich Americans who don ’ t need it. T rouble is some o f the proposals being
considered by the Administration wouldn’t exactly help older women. One
trail balloon is a proposal to eliminate the earnings test for workers below
the full benefit age. (Current law reduces Social Security payments for
workers 62 to 64 who earn more than $9600 per year.) While this looks like
a good deal at first, the net result will be more women who are poor in their
old-old age. Here’s how it would play out: workers below 65 wouldbe more
likely to claim their Social Security benefits early (and as a result get a
reduced benefit for life) if there were no earnings test. This would be fine
so long as the earnings were coming in, but the reduced bene fit would really
start to pinch when folks were no longer able to work, and the extra money
no longer available. The lifetime reduction inbenefits in exchange fora few
years elimination o f the earnings test would be especially hard on women,
since they live longer than men and become more reliant on Social Security
as they grow older.
The National Council o f W omen’s Organizations, a coalition o f more than
100 national groups representing upwards o f six million women, has flatly
told the White House that eliminating the earnings test would be bad for
women. And it’s also easy to see that the 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries
living below the poverty line who are women could use a prescription
benefit in their coverage. But the question is, w ho’s listening? With an
election year coming up, only time will tell whether older women have truly
been identified as a group we should all care about. It could be they have
only been “discovered” as useful to lobbyists pushing the latest corporate
propaganda, or “discovered” for use as poster girls by a scandalized
presidency in its last attempt to leave a legacy - even if it harms the majority
o f older Americans.
M artha Burk is a political psychologist who head the Center for
Advancement o f Public Policy in Washington, DC, a think tank focusing
on the wisdom o f providing for more equal treatment o f women in society.
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