Rochester Turning finds this disturbing nugget on the 2008 Presidential race: Clearchannel just recently went up for auction. Mitt Romney's Bain Capital bought it along with Thomas H Lee Partners, but I'm not sure who owns them. The rumor on the Street was that there might be regulatory problems because the firms own positions in other media companies, but I'm not sure which ones. Article is here and Wikipedia for Bain Capital is here. To prepare for their 2008 runs, most potential candidates stock up on staff, a Leadership PAC, and support from party leaders, advocacy organizations, and grassroots groups. Mitt Romney buys a media empire. I can't argue with what will probably be an effective strategy, but I can fear for American Democracy. Maybe Romney did this in order to match Giuliani's defacto news organization, Bloomberg. Maybe he did it to try and counter Rupert Murdoch's hold over the Bush administration via Tony Snow.
For a long time, many progressives have dismissed much established media as corporate and pro-right wing. However, with the difference between rulers of vast media empires and Republican Presidential candidates quickly disappearing, hopefully that will be a problem that the entire country will start to notice as well. While it may not be possible with Bush in the White House, we have to end media consolidtion and reinstate the fairness doctrine ASAP. Rochester Turning describes just how bad the situation is in the Flower City (that's Rochester, for you non-Upstaters): One of the most distressing political topics of the day is the state of our media. Did you know that of the four major television channels here, one is owned by Sinclair (FOX 31 WUHF, which comes in as Channel 7 on cable) and another (ABC 13 WHAM) is owned by Clear Channel? Sinclair, you may recall, was set to run an anti-John Kerry documentary a few days before the 2004 election until a sponsor boycott forced them to do otherwise, while Clear Channel reportedly led campaigns against the Dixie Chicks following their comments about George Bush a few years ago. Clear Channel also owns seven local radio stations I am sure that cities around the country are facing similar problems--posibly even worse. News Corps, Sinclair, Clear Channel, Bloomberg--tough times ahead for the So Called Liberal Media.
Premier Radio, which produces Limbaugh’s show, is a subsidiary of Clear Channel, IIRC...
I don’t believe Romney has been related to Bain Capital for over a decade. He is not listed as a Director or ‘Sr. Professional’ on their site.
http://www.baincapital.com/Team/index.asp?viewType=ByEmployeeType&;
The Activism sidebar is reserved for News/Activism of the FR chapters.
Please refrain from abuse.
AM
And also place content from Bloggers into the Bloggers forum.
Here is an update:
Growing doubts over Clear Channel buy-out
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e39af928-bd8c-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html