Blame Big Media For Campaign Finance Failure

by J. Bonasia

Indeed, campaign finance reform was left behind like so much stale food by politicians and pundits gorging themselves on the sumptuous diversion of the Lewinsky scandal. Yet the corporate media should be held accountable for downplaying the failure of campaign reform, as the entwined media and entertainment industries clearly benefit from the current system of campaign financing. Witness growing media contributions to political parties and candidates this decade.

When the Shays-Meehan and McCain-Feingold bills were introduced last year, both contained provisions for cheap airtime as an effective way to slash the exhorbitant costs of big-league campaigning. Media conglomerates quickly annulled the prospect of broadcasters offering free or reduced-fee airtime for office seekers. Of course the cash flows in both directions. Big media helped to fend off campaign reform because big money was at stake. The TV Bureau of Advertising says candidates and parties spent $400 million to buy TV time in 1996, an increase of 34 percent just since 1992.

The Senate is clearly out of touch with the voters on this issue. A September poll released by Washington-based Public Campaign showed support for McCain-Feingold ranging from 75 percent in New Hampshire to 58 percent in Mississippi. Approval ratings for campaign finance reform reached similar marks of 70 percent in Missouri, 69 percent in Colorado and Ohio, 65 percent in New York, 64 percent in Indiana and 59 percent in North Carolina. Majorities also said they would vote for Senate candidates who favor campaign finance reform, and more than two-thirds of voters said they believe special interest money directly influences their senators' vote. Americans may be fickle about voting, but they are not ignorant about how the political wheels gets greased.

Consider that between 1995 and mid-1998, NBC-owner General Electric gave $389,634 to the parties and $988,850 to federal candidates. Time Warner gave $904,250 to parties, and $468,000 to candidates. Disney topped the list with $282,474 to candidates and a substantial $1.7 million in soft-money donations.

Or consider that in 1996, media mogul Rupert Murdoch reportedly donated $1 million to the California Republican Party during the final weeks of the Proposition 209 campaign, when the party spent large sums to successfully pass the anti-affirmative action initiative. In 1997, Murdoch was even said to have urged UC Regent Ward Connerly, who led the Prop. 209 campaign, to challenge Democrat Barbara Boxer in her upcoming bid for Senate reelection.

Along similar yet different lines, consider that local teams are no longer representatives of their communities so much as their media sponsors, the logos of which transform players and coaches into billboard caricatures. Media companies are increasingly investing in Major League sports franchises, a mutually beneficial affiliation which creates what corporate consultants like to call "synergy" but not "undue influence." Time Warner currently owns the Atlanta Hawks, Braves and Thrashers (NHL); direct media holdings include CNN, TBS, TNT, Sports Illustrated and Time Warner Cable, in which TCI Cable has significant financial interest.

The Walt Disney Co. owns the Anaheim Angels and Mighty Ducks; direct media holdings include ABC and ESPN. Murdoch's News Corp. now owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and part of the New York Knicks and Rangers; direct media holdings include Fox and the New York Post.

Cablevision owns part of the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty (WNBA). Comcast Corp. owns the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers, and the Tribune Co. owns the Chicago Cubs; media holdings include the Chicago Tribune, WGN-TV, CLTV and WGN-FM.

The Ackerley Group owns the Seattle Supersonics; direct media holdings include KVOS-TV, KJR-AM & FM, KUBE-FM. In addition, Kevin McClatchy of the McClatchy Company is part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and John Rigas of Adelphia Communications Corp. and Empire Sports Network owns the Buffalo Sabres.

Consider that since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 shattered the longstanding tradition of limited concentrations of media ownership in given markets, just four multi-billion-dollar corporations now control almost one-third of the $13.6 billion annual radio business. Number two on that list, behind CBS, is the Dallas-based leveraged buyout company Hicks, Muse, which effectively controls an estimated 500 radio stations and 30 TV stations in 100 markets nationwide. Talk about Big Brother providing the world with its news: Hicks, Muse is reportedly in acquisition talks with the number four firm, Jacor Communications.

Like professional politicians who have lost touch with their constituents, major media outlets are increasingly abandoning their traditional role as a forum for free speech. Instead they are beginning to resemble automated message-promotion filters in a much larger global schematic for the generation of windfall revenues and unprecedented profits.