Media Action Center is a group of of concerned residents throughout the U.S. led by former Emmy-winning broadcaster turned media reformer Sue Wilson. We have successfully influenced policy at the Federal Communications Commission and at local TV and Radio stations throughout the country for more than a decade to ensure We the People are truly served by the publicly owned airwaves. (See the archive of our work under "older posts.") We successfully forced Entercom to give up its $13.5 million license to KDND for killing a woman in a radio water drinking stunt. We have a long-running action to label Alex Jones' radio show as the fiction it is, which has taken Jones' program off dozens of radio stations nationwide. We educated the Supreme Court in FCC v Prometheus Radio on critical information to #SaveLocalNews.

Please see MAC's 2018 Comment to the FCC (below) to learn why these actions are crucial to Democracy. Find full journalistic coverage of the Supreme Court case and our Amicus brief, Sinclair Broadcasting's shell game, Alex Jones, the Strange v Entercom trial and other public interest media issues at SueWilsonReports.com. For background on how we arrived in this era of disinformation and what to do about it, see Wilson's 2009 documentary Broadcast Blues.

To Do List to Take Back Control of Our Public Airwaves

July 5, 2024

 Local TV and local radio stations broadcast over the air. OUR air. Most of them are licensed to giant corporations which are poisoning our air with hate and lies. If someone were licensed to provide the air you breathe in your town, and then poisoned your air, what would you do? You'd FIGHT!

Here are ways you can fight for your air in your own communities:

 

1. Form a local media reform group. Decide how your local radio and TV content can be improved. Then make appointments with local Station Managers and News Directors.  Tell them your concerns, and make a reasonable ask. (In Sacramento, the Sac Media Group asked TV stations to provide just 5 minutes per day of local campaign coverage in the 60 days prior to an election.) Take notes of your meeting and what was said. Publish a report on what was said or promised.  (It took 3 meetings over 2 1/2 years for Sac Media Group to get every TV station to agree, but they won in the end.)

2. If you live in a community where Sinclair Broadcasting is shuttering local news and spreading right wing propaganda via their "National Desk" program, ask for a meeting. If they refuse, gather people for a protest. Try using the Truth Tuesdays model of regular protests in front of the station. Invite other local media to cover these events. Post videos, audio, and reports on your own website.

3. If you live in an area where Sinclair broadcasts and are willing to assist in a legal project (pro bono, no cost to you,) please contact me at sue@mediaactioncenter.net

3. Meet with your Federal representatives about your concerns.  FCC makes many rules about how broadcasters may behave, but we need more actual laws on the books to protect our interests. 

SUGGESTED LEGISLATION:

START WITH RADIO:

Break up radio monopolies. Don't allow one company to license unlimited numbers of radio stations nationally.

Don't allow one company to license more than 4 stations in the same town.  

Balance the scale of station groups sizes so each group can have at least one high wattage station.

FOR TELEVISION: 

Do not allow one TV company to license or operate 2, 3, even 4 Network stations in the same town. 

Discontinue the practice of Shared Service and Joint Sales Agreements that allow a corporation to monopolize information in one town. 

 FOR TELEVISION AND RADIO: 

Legislate a "Right to Respond" so all We People who own the airwaves can engage in discourse. Why did Sandy Hook parents have to spend $$$ millions to sue for defamation? Radio stations airing Alex Jones should have simply put them on the air to tell their side.