'Nobility of capitalism.'(Pundit Watch) (Column)

• Author: Douglas, Susan

Well, it's been quite a month. First, with a jubilant Magic Johnson on the cover of all the major newsmagazines (Newsweek had him as Superman bursting out of his fuddy-duddy Clark Kent disguise), AIDS became the happy disease. Newsweek's headline, IT'S MORE THAN MAGIC, suggested that some new medical hocus-pocus has made the AIDS catastrophe a thing of the past--especially if you have a good attitude. I'm sure glad Magic's return to the NBA has "dispelled gloomy myths about living with HIV" once and for all.

Then we got the Telecommunications Act of 1996--now don't glaze over on me, as the press has urged you to do. Not since NAFTA has a corporate giveaway of this magnitude received such superficial and skewed coverage. Quick--what do you think of when you hear mention of this bill? Could it be the provision that outlaws "indecency" on the internet? While front-page stories have focused on the "Communications Decency Act" and the already concerted efforts to overthrow this complete abrogation of the First Amendment, the big story was buried.

Why? Because telecommunications law is confusing and boring. Just ask David Brinkley. "Congress passed a huge, enormous, er, I guess, communications bill, is the best description of it," Brinkley informed his viewers. "It deals with television, telephone, lord knows what else. What will it do to us and for us?" (This is a direct transcript).

In case you, too, weren't sure about the impact of this bill, here's how communications expert George Will fielded the question: "It's going to make life more interesting, increase productivity, and expand freedom." It takes imagination to make this legislation sound like a cross between a Thai restaurant, a rowing machine, and the drug ecstasy.

Just after Sam Donaldson noted that "some people" (that's fussbudgets like you and me) worry "that the media moguls will end up with a monopoly of the whole thing," Brinkley cut off discussion and changed the subject. No need to get to the real heart of the story, which is that this new bill helps consolidate more and more media outlets into fewer and fewer hands. Since 1934, the FCC has restricted the number of radio and television stations individuals or corporations can own, both nationally and in local markets, to prevent anyone from gaining a monopoly of the airwaves. No more, my dears. (Oligopolies were always fine with the FCC, but monopolies made it look like maybe the government wasn't guarding the public interest.)

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