Health News Coverage in the US Media, July 2009

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Health News Coverage in the US Media, July 2009 HEALTH NEWS COVERAGE IN THE U.S. MEDIA January – June 2009 A REPORT BY The Kaiser Family Foundation AND The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism JULY 2009 The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible analysis and information on health issues. The Project for Excellence in Journalism is an initiative of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. and is dedicated to studying the performance of the press, specializing in part in content analysis. The Project is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction 2 Key Findings 7 Conclusion 8 Methodology I INTRODUCTION nt s the Obama Administration begins in earnest its plans to take up health care reform, how the media covers the debate at the Aoutset will influence the public view of the issue and what happens next. R To what extent did health issues get covered in the national press during the first six months of the new Obama Administration? What O were the topics and stories driving the coverage? How does the extent and focus of the coverage broadly compare with health news D coverage in 2007 and the first half of 2008? uction Overall, health news coverage is on the rise. And while attention in the early months of the year was more tied to public health issues like the swine flu and salmonella-tainted peanut butter, media attention to health policy increased sharply in June. This report covers a six-month time period, from January through June 2009, and updates an earlier 18-month analysis of January 2007 through June 2008. Both reports were joint projects of the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ). The findings are based on an analysis of coverage of health in 55 different news outlets that were originally sampled as part of PEJ’s ongoing News Coverage Index. The study includes the front pages of small, medium and large market newspapers; network TV morning and evening news programs; cable television news; news and talk radio and online news. A total of 1,568 health stories were analyzed for this report. Key findings include: • Health news coverage is growing. It represented 4.9% of • The second-biggest health news story was the swine flu all coverage studied in the first six months of the year—a outbreak, which garnered 30.2% of all health coverage. 36% increase over the earlier time period of 2007 and the The swine flu story peaked in April when it was the fourth- first half of 2008 when it was 3.6% of all coverage studied. biggest story in the nation. At the height of the coverage, Health news kept its spot as the eighth-biggest subject. however, during the week of April 27–May 3, swine flu was Heath received less than half of the coverage devoted to the number one story in the nation, attracting 31.1% of the the economy; nearly one-and-a-half times the coverage of total national newshole. The following week (May 4–10), domestic terrorism and more than three times the coverage the story was the nation’s second-biggest story, with 9.2% of race and gender issues, science and technology, of national newshole. environment or education. • The single disease to garner the most media attention • Health policy/the U.S. health care system received the in the first half of this year was cancer, accounting for most attention of any health-related topic (40.2% of 5.9% of all health coverage. The number two condition newshole), followed by coverage of public health issues like was mental health, at 2.5%, followed by diabetes/obesity the swine flu (35.7%) and coverage of specific diseases (1.9%). or conditions (24.1%). This is a big shift in the focus of • The media sectors differed in the attention paid to health health reporting from our earlier study; in 2007 and the news and also in which health news areas they followed first half of 2008, health policy/the health care system was most closely. The three commercial evening newscasts the least-covered aspect of health in the news, while in the primarily covered specific diseases and health conditions, current period it is the most prominent health topic in the while the PBS NewsHour focused on health policy issues. news. Network morning TV and news Web sites, meanwhile, • The vast majority of health policy coverage had to do with spent more time on the latest public health outbreaks while the debate over how to reform health care. It was the newspapers and news radio were more evenly divided in biggest single health news story during the first six months their coverage. of 2009, at 37.5% of the overall health newshole. Most of that coverage came in June when President Obama’s health care bill began making its way through Congress. That month, the health care debate story was the fourth- biggest story in the nation. January – June 2009 Health News Coverage in the U.S. Media 1 KEY FINDINGS Top Health News Topic Areas The health news agenda in the first six months of 2009 was Overall Coverage of Health in the News overwhelmingly dominated by coverage of health policy/the Cumulatively, U.S.-related health news accounted for 4.9% U.S. health care system and public health issues (primarily the INGS of the newshole studied during the first six months of 2009. outbreak of swine flu). Together, these issues comprised over D That put health in the 8th spot among news topics, behind three-quarters (75.9%) of the total health news studied. the economy, foreign affairs, business, politics and crime, but ahead of domestic terror, race and gender, science and The largest share of that (40.2%) focused on stories about technology, the environment and education. health policy and the state of the U.S. health care system. Until June, though, three specific events accounted for most But it also represented a 36% increase from the time period of the attention. The (January 2007–June 2008) covered in our earlier study, when first came in March HEALTH NEWS TOPIC AREAS health accounted for only 3.6% of national newshole.1 And, K E Y F I N when Obama named attention to health news seems to be on the rise. During the Governor Kathleen months of April, May and June, coverage of health issues Sibelius as Secretary Health reached 7.4%, 6.9% and 6.7% respectively, marking the Policy/Health of Health and Human Care System Public Health highest monthly levels of attention to health issues of any time 40.2% 35.7% Services. Later that over the past two-and-a-half years. month coverage spiked Specific Diseases/ In addition to the intense coverage of the swine flu outbreak again during President Conditions 24.1% in April, some of the increase is due to the political priority the Obama’s health care Obama Administration placed on health care reform—a priority summit. Then the next that will likely keep health in the news for months to come. uptick came in May when the President met with health care leaders and sparked a heated nationwide discussion of the TOP ISSUES IN U.S. NEWS MEDIA single-payer option. (January – June 2009) Percent of It wasn’t until June—when health care reform legislation Topic Newshole began making its way through Congress—that health policy Economy/Economics 13.5% Government Agencies/Legislatures 12.0 became a consistent top theme in the press. The health care Foreign 11.1 debate story was the fourth-biggest story in the nation in the U.S. Foreign Affairs 9.2 month of June, attracting 5.7% of the total national newshole. Business 9.1 Crime 6.5 And that level of attention remained consistent throughout the Campaigns/Elections/Politics 6.1 month, ranking between seventh and third nationally each of Health 4.9 the four weeks. Domestic Terrorism 3.6 Lifestyle 2.7 The second-biggest health topic—potential epidemics Miscellaneous 2.5 and other public health concerns—comprised 35.7% of Domestic Affairs (other) 2.1 Disasters/Accidents 1.8 health news coverage over the first six months of 2009. Media 1.7 Most notable were the outbreaks of peanut butter-related Science/Technology 1.6 salmonella in January and of swine flu in April and May. The Race/Gender/Gay Issues 1.6 swine flu story peaked in April, when it was, overall, the fourth- Court/Legal System 1.6 Sports 1.5 biggest story in the nation. At the height of the coverage, Environment 1.4 however, during the week of April 27–May 3, swine flu was Celebrity/Entertainment 1.3 the number one story, attracting 31.1% of the total newshole. Education 1.3 Defense/Military (domestic) 1.2 The following week (May 4–10), the story was still the nation’s Immigration .6 second-biggest story, filling 9.2% of the national newshole. Transportation .6 Religion .4 Development/Sprawl < .1 1 We also broke down the prior time period into six-month increments and examined the second half of 2008. Even then, 2009 still has the greatest TOTAL 100% percentage devoted to health news. Jan. – June 2007=4.1%; July – Dec. 2007 =3.8%; Jan. – June 2008=2.9%; July – Dec. 2008=2.6%. Health News Coverage in the U.S. Media January – June 2009 KEY FINDINGS Stories about specific diseases and conditions, disease For the first six months of 2009, the overall proportion of prevention and medical research rounded out the news these three major areas of health news—health policy and coverage with 24.1% of the health newshole.
Recommended publications
  • BIOGRAPHY BOB WOODRUFF ABC News Correspondent
    BIOGRAPHY BOB WOODRUFF ABC News Correspondent Bob Woodruff joined ABC News in 1996 and has covered major stories throughout the country and around the world for the network. He was named co-anchor of “ABC World News Tonight” in December 2005. On Jan. 29, 2006, while reporting on U.S. and Iraqi security forces, Woodruff was seriously injured by a roadside bomb that struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq. In February 2007, just 13 months after being wounded, Woodruff returned to ABC News with his first on-air report, “To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports.” The hour-long, prime-time documentary chronicled his traumatic brain injury (TBI), his painstaking recovery and the plight of thousands of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with similar injuries. Since returning to the air, Woodruff has reported from around the globe. He has traveled to North Korea eight times, investigating the growing nuclear threats in the hands of Kim Jong Un. Since 2015, Woodruff has been ABC’s primary correspondent throughout Asia, especially China, reporting on topics ranging from the controversial treatment of Muslims in the Xinjiang province to the United States’ presence in the South China Sea. In 2008, ABC News aired his critically acclaimed documentary “China Inside Out,” which examined how China’s global rise impacts what’s being called the “Chinese Century.” On the streets of Manila, he has seen the rising violence and murders following President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug policies. He traveled to Japan in the wake of the devastating natural disasters to report on the stabilization of nuclear reactors in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • American Forces Network Radio Programming Decisions (D-2006-117)
    September 27, 2006 Information Technology Management American Forces Network Radio Programming Decisions (D-2006-117) Department of Defense Office of Inspector General Quality Integrity Accountability Additional Copies To obtain additional copies of this report, visit the Web site of the Department of Defense Inspector General at http://www.dodig.mil/audit/reports or contact the Secondary Reports Distribution Unit at (703) 604-8937 (DSN 664-8937) or fax (703) 604-8932. Suggestions for Future Audits To suggest ideas for or to request future audits, contact the Office of the Deputy Inspector General for Auditing at (703) 604-8940 (DSN 664-8940) or fax (703) 604-8932. Ideas and requests can also be mailed to: ODIG-AUD (ATTN: Audit Suggestions) Department of Defense Inspector General 400 Army Navy Drive (Room 801) Arlington, VA 22202-4704 Acronyms AFIS American Forces Information Service AFN American Forces Network AFRTS American Forces Radio and Television Service AFN-BC American Forces Network - Broadcast Center ASD(PA) Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) OIG Office of Inspector General Department of Defense Office of Inspector General Report No. D-2006-117 September 27, 2006 (Project No. D2006-D000FI-0103.000) American Forces Network Radio Programming Decisions Executive Summary Who Should Read This Report and Why? This report will be of interest to DoD personnel responsible for the selection and distribution of talk-radio programming to overseas U.S. Forces and their family members and military personnel serving onboard ships. The report discusses the controls and processes needed for establishing a diverse inventory of talk-radio programming on American Forces Network Radio.
    [Show full text]
  • Gordon Graham: "Get Yourself a Union Rep!" Margaret Jenny, President, RTCA
    WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 7:30 a.m. | Registration 7:30 a.m. | Breakfast 8:30 a.m. | Welcome WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 Steve Hansen, Chairman, National Safety Committee, NATCA 8:40 a.m. | Keynote Address Gordon Graham: "Get Yourself a Union Rep!" Margaret Jenny, President, RTCA 9:00 a.m. | Presentation Gordon Graham took the stage for the fourth lawyers get involved.” How the Media Can Shape straight year Tuesday with another fantastic Aviation: An Interview with David presentation, “Why Things Go Right and Why “Whenever I talk I’m also thinking with a risk Kerley Things Go Wrong.” management hat on. My whole life is pre- incident prevention. What can we do up front to 9:45 a.m. | Break Graham’s presentation centered on his time prevent these problems?” 10:30 a.m. | Panel as a California law enforcement officer. He The Effect of Government encouraged facilities to find ways to incorporate “We face thousands of risks in our own Regulations and Policies on daily training to prepare for low frequency, high operations. We face thousands of risks in what Aviation Safety, Efficiency, and Growth risk situations. He also encouraged attendees we do. Where do we get started?” to take into consideration the way that we learn 12:00 p.m. | Lunch and look for ways for people to learn from their “Get ready for your retirement today. Get ready Speaker: Jessica Cox mistakes. for your retirement TODAY.” Thinking Outside the Shoe 2:00 p.m. | Breakouts That, along with his education as a risk “Sergeant Graham is nuts!” manager, and experience as a practicing 13th Annual Archie League attorney make all of his presentations “You can tell her we did that but we’re not Medal of Safety Awards entertaining and insightful.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of Talk Radio and Its Impact on Politics and Public Policy
    Mount Rushmore: The Rise of Talk Radio and Its Impact on Politics and Public Policy Brian Asher Rosenwald Wynnewood, PA Master of Arts, University of Virginia, 2009 Bachelor of Arts, University of Pennsylvania, 2006 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Virginia August, 2015 !1 © Copyright 2015 by Brian Asher Rosenwald All Rights Reserved August 2015 !2 Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to the many people without whom this project would not have been possible. First, a huge thank you to the more than two hundred and twenty five people from the radio and political worlds who graciously took time from their busy schedules to answer my questions. Some of them put up with repeated follow ups and nagging emails as I tried to develop an understanding of the business and its political implications. They allowed me to keep most things on the record, and provided me with an understanding that simply would not have been possible without their participation. When I began this project, I never imagined that I would interview anywhere near this many people, but now, almost five years later, I cannot imagine the project without the information gleaned from these invaluable interviews. I have been fortunate enough to receive fellowships from the Fox Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania and the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia, which made it far easier to complete this dissertation. I am grateful to be a part of the Fox family, both because of the great work that the program does, but also because of the terrific people who work at Fox.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Meddling in Western Elections, 2016-2017: a Preliminary
    RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN WESTERN ELECTIONS, 2016-2017: A PRELIMINARY PROBE By Guillermo Lopez Sanchez A thesis submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with a Major in International Studies May 2018 Committee Members: Dennis J. Dunn, Chair Ronald Angelo Johnson Sandhya Rao COPYRIGHT by Guillermo Lopez Sanchez 2018 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Guillermo Lopez Sanchez, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my gratitude to Dr. Dennis J. Dunn, Professor of History and Director of the Center for International Studies at Texas State University. His dedication, knowledge, and support since I began the Master of Arts with a major in International Studies were invaluable. In addition, my appreciation is extended to Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson, Associate Professor in the Department of History; and Dr. Sandhya Rao, Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, for their outstanding advice and assistance. Collectively, they strengthened my resources, asked probing questions that helped me sharpen my focus, and provided valuable insights that benefitted my research. I also wish to express my appreciation to Jeremy Pena, Coordinator of Academic Programs at the Center for International Studies, for his administrative support.
    [Show full text]
  • An Overview of Federal STEM Education Programs
    Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough Darrell M. West, Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst, and E.J. Dionne Jr. Methodology • Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism - Coded content daily from a sample of newspapers, network news, cable news, news and talk radio, and online news - Samples are purposeful rather than representative - Selection bias for important stories • Brookings: coded content of all AP education wire stories • Brookings: qualitative study of blogs and local newspapers Newspapers Online Network TV Cable Radio Yahoo news ABC Good CNN daytime NPR Morning Edition NY Times Morning America MSNBC.com ABC World News Situation Room Rush Limbaugh Washington Post Tonight Wall Street Journal NYTimes.com NBC Today Show Anderson Cooper 360 Ed Schultz USA Today Google news NBC Nightly News Lou Dobbs Randi Rhodes washingtonpost.com CBS The Early CNN Prime Time Michael Savage LA Times Show cnn.com CBS Evening MSNBC daytime Sean Hannity Kansas City Star News Pittsburgh Post- aol news PBS Newshour Hardball ABC News Gazette Headlines San Antonio foxnews.com Rachel Maddow CBS News Express-News Headlines San Jose Mercury USAtoday.com The Ed Show News Herald News abcnews.com Countdown Anniston Star BBC News Fox News special Spokesman-Review Reuters.com Fox News daytime Meadville Tribune O'Reilly Factor Fox Report with Shepard Smith Hannity (TV) Special Report w/ Bret Baier Government National News Coverage 2009 Economics Foreign (non-U.S.) U.S. Foreign affairs 12 Health/Medicine Business Crime 10 Campaign/Elections/Politics
    [Show full text]
  • Uld Take All Callers, Independent Facts Radio Talk. Mike Malloy, Articulate
    uld take all callers, independent facts radio talk. Mike Malloy, articulate historian, (unfortunate11 fired for daring to speak the truth about the US Israeli PAC and Israel's bombing of Lebannon), Thorn Hartrnann, articulate historian & writer, Randi Rhodes, who took on CACl &won, Sam Sedar, who articulates what 36 of 171 ike dwards 43212 Clear Channel now will provide two more hateful commentators in Laura lngraham and despicable Michael Savage who calls Jimmy Carter an Anti Semite (the man who won the nobel peace prize). I will boycon Clear Channel and buy a satellite radio because they seem to want to have a One Sided radio station. I hope people realize how hateful those two people are that they are putting on there. TO READ MORE OF THERE HATEFUL COMMENTS GO TO MEDIAMAmERS.ORG iurie ewey 45387 We need progressive voices on the airwaves to keep our democracy. I need 1230 on in the morninq drive to keep my sanity. ieresa lhitnev 43074 Keep this important proqramming on the air!!!! .a. lhnson 43201 ike we eahy 43235 America's Last Non-desperate Housewife just got desperate! The last thing Columbus needs to subjected to is the insane rantings of Michael Savage (nee Weiner)! Keep Stephanie, AI and Biq Eddie on the air in Columbubs! ark utkus 43215 We are encouraginq as many people as possible to siqn this petition. my well 43212 it's not that clear channel "cannot sell" progressive radio... they just aren't trying. the hosts they are eliminating are some of the only truthful, level- headed and/or loqical people on the air.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the 19.3
    Lane Glisson 461 Breaking the Spin Cycle: Teaching Complexity in the 19.3. Age of Fake News portal Lane Glisson publication, abstract: This article describes a discussion-based approach for teaching college students to identify the characteristics of ethical journalism and scholarly writing, by comparingfor fake news with credible information in a strategically planned slideshow. Much has been written on the need to instruct our students about disinformation. This librarian shares a lesson plan that engages students’ critical thinking skills by using a blend of humor, analysis, and a compelling visual presentation. The teaching method is contextualized by research on the distrust of the press and scientific evidence since the rise of hyper-partisan cable news, Russian trollaccepted farms, and alternative facts. and Introduction edited, Throughout our culture, the old notions of “truth” and “knowledge” are in danger of being replaced by the new ones of “opinion,” “perception” and “credibility.” copy Michio Kakutani1 What if truth is not an absolute or a relative, but a skill—a muscle, like memory, that collectively we have neglected so much that we have grown measurably weaker at using it? How might we rebuild it, going from chronic to bionic? reviewed, Kevin Young2 npeer 2015, I knew I had a problem. After several years of teaching library instruction is classes, I noticed that my conception of factual- ity and that of my students had diverged. Most Most students preferred Istudents preferred Google and YouTube to do their mss. Google and YouTube to do research. When asked in my classes how they dis- cerned the credibility of a website, most shrugged their research.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Appendix A
    APPENDIX A News Coverage of Immigration 2007: A political story, not an issue, covered episodically—Content Methodology “News Coverage of Immigration 2007: A political story, not an issue, covered episodically” is a report based on additional analysis of content already aggregated in PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index (NCI). The NCI examines 48 news outlets in real time to determine what is being covered and what is not. The complete methodology of the weekly NCI can be found at http://www.journalism.org/about_news_index/methodology. The findings are then released in a weekly NCI report. All coding is conducted in-house by PEJ’s staff of researchers continuous throughout the year. Examining the news agenda of 48 different outlets in five media sectors, including newspapers, online, network TV, cable TV and radio, the NCI is designed to provide news consumers, journalists, and researchers with hard data about what stories and topics the media are covering, the trajectories of major stories and differences among news platforms. This report focused primarily on stories on immigration within the Index. For this report, all stories that had been already coded as being on immigration were isolated and further analyzed to locate the presence of immigration over a year’s worth of news, and how immigration coverage ebbed and flowed throughout 2007. This provided us with the answers to questions, such as which aspects of the immigration issue did the media most tune into?; what was not covered?; and who provided the most coverage? The data for this analysis came from a year’s worth of content analysis conducted by PEJ for the NCI.
    [Show full text]
  • THE COLOR of NEWS: How Different Media Have Covered the General Election
    THE COLOR OF NEWS: How Different Media Have Covered the General Election When it comes to coverage of the campaign for president 2008, where one goes for news makes a difference, according to a new study. In cable, the evidence firmly suggests there now really is an ideological divide between two of the three channels, at least in their coverage of the campaign. Things look much better for Barack Obama—and much worse for John McCain—on MSNBC than in most other news outlets. On the Fox News Channel, the coverage of the presidential candidates is something of a mirror image of that seen on MSNBC. The tone of CNN’s coverage, meanwhile, lay somewhere in the middle of the cable spectrum, and was generally more negative than the press overall. On the evening newscasts of the three traditional networks, in contrast, there is no such ideological split. Indeed, on the nightly newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC, coverage tends to be more neutral and generally less negative than elsewhere. On the network morning shows, Sarah Palin is a bigger story than she is in the media generally. And on NBC News programs, there was no reflection of the tendency of its cable sibling MSNBC toward more favorable coverage of Democrats and more negative of Republicans than the norm. Online, meanwhile, polling tended to drive the news. And on the front pages of newspapers, which often have the day-after story, things look tougher for John McCain than they tend to in the media overall. 1 These are some of the findings of the study, which examined 2,412 stories from 48 outlets during the time period from September 8 to October 16.1 The report is a companion to a study released October 22 about the tone of coverage overall.
    [Show full text]
  • 5 MUR 6544 6 MSNBC, Inc. 7 8 9 10 GENERAL COUNSEL's REPORT 11
    1 BEFORE THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 2 3 In the Matter of 4 5 MUR 6544 CASE CLOSURE UNDER THE 6 MSNBC, Inc. ENFORCEMENT PRIORITY 7 SYSTEM 8 9 10 GENERAL COUNSEL'S REPORT 11 12 Under the Enforcement Priority System ("EPS"), the Commission uses formal scoring 13 criteria as a basis to allocate its resources and decide which matters to pursue. These criteria 14 include without limitation an assessment of the following factors: (1) the gravity of the alleged 15 violation, taking into account both the type of activity and the amount in violation; (2) the 16 apparent impact the alleged violation may have had on the electoral process; (3) the complexity 17 of the legal issues raised in the matter; and (4) recent trends in potential violations of the Federal 18 Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended ("the Act"), and developments of the law. It is the 19 Commission's policy that pursuing relatively low-rated matters on the Enforcement docket 20 warrants the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion to dismiss cases under certain circumstances 21 or, where the response sufficiently rebuts the allegations set forth in the complaint, to make no 22 reason to believe findings. 23 The Office of General Counsel has scored MUR 6544 as a low-rated matter and has 24 determined that it should not be referred to the Altemative Dispute Resolution Office. For the 25 reasons set forth below, the Office of General Counsel recommends that the Commission find no 26 reason to believe that MSNBC, Inc. violated the Act or Commission regulations.
    [Show full text]
  • Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C
    Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) 2006 Quadrennial Regulatory Review – Review ) MB Docket No. 06-121 of the Commission’s Broadcast Ownership ) Rules and Other Rules Adopted Pursuant to ) Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of ) 1996 ) ) 2002 Biennial Regulatory Review – Review of ) MB Docket No. 02-277 the Commission’s Broadcast Ownership Rules ) and Other Rules Adopted Pursuant to Section ) 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ) ) Cross-Ownership of Broadcast Stations and ) MM Docket No. 01-235 Newspapers ) ) Rules and Policies Concerning Multiple ) MM Docket No. 01-317 Ownership of Radio Broadcast Stations in ) Local Markets ) ) Definition of Radio Markets ) MM Docket No. 00-244 ) COMMENTS OF CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Andrew W. Levin Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary Clear Channel Communications, Inc. 200 East Basse Road San Antonio, Texas 75201 (210) 822-2828 October 23, 2006 SUMMARY Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (“Clear Channel”) is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies and is the licensee of locally-programmed and locally- oriented radio and television stations that are dedicated to serving communities across the United States. Clear Channel has been able to expand its ability to deliver superior service to the public in part as a result of the deregulatory changes to the local radio ownership rule that Congress mandated in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“1996 Act”). These changes were a result of Congress’ recognition of the growing rivalry that terrestrial broadcasters faced at the time of the 1996 Act’s passage, and the fact that regulatory relief would aid the industry in its quest to remain competitive.
    [Show full text]