We Need More Diversity Not More Consolidation. the Rush Limbaugh Scandal Has Reached a Tipping Point

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We need more diversity not more consolidation. The Rush Limbaugh scandal has reached a tipping point. As you’ve likely heard, on an episode of his radio show Limbaugh verbally abused a woman who testified before Congress about health-care coverage for contraceptives. Since then, millions have urged advertisers to pull their ads from his program. So far more than 45 advertisers have agreed to do so, and more are piling on every day.1 Meanwhile, many of us have wondered: How did this guy get such a megaphone in the first place? The answer? Media consolidation. Years of bad media policies have completely altered the radio landscape in the U.S. Today, a chauvinist like Limbaugh is piped over hundreds of conglomerate-owned stations while diverse, local voices have been shoved off the air. People of color own just 7.7 percent of our country's full-power radio stations. And women — Limbaugh's favorite target — own just 6 percent of all broadcast outlets. The proof is in the numbers. Here's how a blowhard like Limbaugh reaches an audience of millions every day: Nearly 600 stations across the U.S. carry Limbaugh’s show.2 It's distributed by a subsidiary of Clear Channel, the mammoth radio company that runs almost 800 stations across the country — making it the biggest radio conglomerate on Earth.3 Thanks to relaxed FCC rules dictating the number of outlets a single media company can own, Clear Channel is allowed to take control of as many radio stations as it can snap up, and it can operate up to eight radio stations in a single market. And as is typical of media conglomerates, Clear Channel has started laying off all of its local DJs, replacing them with pre-recorded voices that are beamed in from who knows where.4 If you think that's outrageous, consider this: The FCC is now proposing rules that could allow companies like Clear Channel to own even more media outlets at the expense of communities starved for diverse, local content. That means a few loudmouthed radio personalities like Limbaugh will be able to set the national agenda and drown out the perspectives of women and people of color. Obviously more consolidation is not the answer. .

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International 2016-2017
COLLEGE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA PRESENTS INTERNATIONAL 2016-2017 All films will be shownFILM Tuesdays at 2 p.m. at the Appleton Museum ofSERIES Art, 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd.,Ocala, and at 7 p.m. at the College of Central Florida, 3001 S.W. College Road, Building 8, Room 110. Films at the Ocala Campus are free and open to the public. Films at the Appleton are free to all museum and film series members; nonmembers pay museum admission. Films may contain mature content. September 13 November 15 “The Rocket” “Eye in the Sky” (NR, Laos/Poland, 2013, 96 min) (R, UK, 2014, 102 min) Ahlo, a 10-year-old boy, is blamed for a string of Helen Mirren stars as Colonel Katherine Powell, disasters. When his family loses their home in a UK-based military officer in command of a top Laos, they are forced to travel across the battle- secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. scarred country in search of a new home. In a Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intel, last plea to try and prove he’s not cursed, Ahlo Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide builds a giant explosive rocket to enter the most bombing and the mission escalates from capture lucrative but dangerous competition of the year the to kill. But as an American pilot is about to engage, Rocket Festival. As the most bombed country in a 9-year-old girl enters the kill zone, triggering an the world shoots back at the sky, Ahlo reaches to international dispute reaching the highest levels of the heavens for forgiveness.
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