Media Reform

In this section:
Introduction
Recent Events
Media Reports
Sacramento Community Efforts
Los Angeles Community Efforts

Introduction:
California Common Cause has a long history of working on media reform issues beginning in 2002 when we worked with the Alliance for Better Campaigns to build public support for giving election candidates Free Air Time. CCC has since educated our members and encouraged them to make calls and send letters to safeguard net neutrality, support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, oppose media concentration, and support PEG stations. To take effective action on media reform, sign up for our CauseNet alerts or contact JoAnn Fuller at or (916) 443 - 1792 extension 11. CCC has on-going media reform groups meeting in Sacramento and Los Angeles.

Recent Events:

December 11, 2007: Today SMG released its report on local television news coverage of the November 2006 general election. Among the key findings, the report finds that only Sacramento Channel 3 News met a minimum of 5 minutes per night of election related coverage leading up to voting day. Additionally, from September 2006 - Election Day in November, the five local broadcasters earned about $32 million in revenues from election related advertising. Click here to read the report.  Click here to read about it in the Sacramento Bee.

June 22, 2007: Success! Members of SMG led a community coalition of 30 nonprofits to lobby the Sacramento City Council to address bridging the digital divide through the letting of a contract to provide WiFi coverage to Sacramento. At our urging, the Sacramento City Council successfully negotiated a contract providing free WiFi at a significant speed, 24 hours a day seven days a week to our community. We are working with the local community foundation and chambers of commerce to provide equipment and training so underserved families can use the Internet for educational, cultural and employment services. Click here to read the Sacramento Bee's article about it and click here to read about it in the San Francisco Chronicle.

March 24, 2006: California Common Cause's LA Media Group met with Congressman Waxman to discuss the renewal of the Telecommunication Act and media consolidation issues in Los Angeles. CCC was heartened by his support for more media diversity, net neutrality, and more consumer protection.

LAMG members with Congressman Waxman

March 9, 2006: "How Do We Engage Voters?" Television Coverage of the Upcoming 2006 Election"
Sacramento, March 9, 2006 Community Forum

Students and community members gathered to consider how television covers elections. The panel speaking to this important concern brought together representatives of local Sacramento TV stations and the California Broadcasters Association on one side. Since there are many ways to get news, television stations understand the need to be receptive to new ideas to survive. But they argued that the stations already do a good job of presenting information to the voter, especially if you include resources on the stations' websites.

On the other side, Dr. Kimberly Nalder presented results of her studies showing that stations give only minutes covering issues before an election, in spite of millions of dollars in ad revenues earned from campaign advertising.

Ron Cooper, from the Sacramento Media Group-which helped organize the forum- found that local stations made approximately $20 million in ad revenue from the last election campaign. Stations made money on our democracy, but weren't willing to use some of that money to produce programs that would enhance our ability to better understand the issues and make wise choices at the ballot box.

Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, referred to her past experience as a voting rights attorney, asking, "Where do people who are just becoming eligible to vote get the information they need to make informed decisions?" In a democracy, you want everyone to vote because public policy decisions affect us all and television and radio are where people should be able to access information about the issues in an election.

And really, that's what all this comes down to. What do we need for our democracy to flourish? We need a free and vibrant media, full of diverse and competing voices; a media that is the lifeblood of America's democracy and culture, as well as an engine of growth for its economy.  Yet, in recent years, the vast majority of America's news and entertainment is now controlled by a handful of giant media conglomerates, limiting the diversity of voices on the air.

Too often, our nation's policymakers favor commercial interests over the public's rights, placing America's democracy, culture, and economy at risk. Instead, we must ensure that the Constitutional right to freely express ourselves in the media, and to access the free expression of others, are always paramount. Please join California Common Cause and the Sacramento Media Group to ensure policymakers enhance our democracy with a lively and diverse media.

"How Do We Engage Voters?" Panel

Media Reports:

Sacramento Television Coverage of the November 2006 General Election

2006 Sacramento Media Group  follow-up to the 2004 TV coverage report.  In 2006, the Sacramento Media Group found poor local TV election coverage, yet the stations earned over $32 million from campaign advertising (triple the amount made in 2004).

The Fear and Fluff of LA's Nightly Local News
2006 Los Angeles Media Group report on nightly news coverage in Los Angeles

Sacramento Television Coverage of the November 2004 General Election
Executive Summary of the Report

2004 Sacramento Media Group report detailing how local stations made over $12 million from campaign advertising, but did not enhance our democracy by producing programming on local campaign issues.

Check back soon for SMG's report on the 2006 elections news coverage! (expected July, 2007)

Sacramento Community Efforts:
The Sacramento Media Group (SMG), affiliated with California Common Cause, is a group of citizens committed to the belief that strong, free, independent media are essential to the health of American democracy. SMG focuses on a number of issues related to print, broadcast and internet media. Click here to learn more about SMG.

Los Angeles Community Efforts:
The Los Angeles Media Group (LAMG) focuses its efforts on local television news coverage, monitoring and detailing the extent of coverage of important issues and meeting with six LA television stations. Click here to learn more about LAMG.

To take effective action on media reform, sign up for our CauseNet alerts or contact JoAnn Fuller at jfuller@commoncause.org or (916) 443 -1792 extension 11. CCC has on-going media reform groups meeting in Sacramento and Los Angeles.