Blethen speaks!

The media/public interest advocacy group, The Benton Foundation, which produces an excellent daily roundup of media-related news, notes a piece by Seattle Times owner Frank Blethen that appeared in Maine Today. Even though Blethen is a “publisher and chief executive officer of The Seattle Times and a fourth-generation newspaper owner,” he still hates what’s happening with media consolidation today. Blethen, who was talking to a Portland, ME audience, noted that “Ongoing consolidation of media ownership threatens American democracy, ... because it saps investment in local journalism and stifles controversial coverage that conflicts with corporate interests.” Blethen apparently distributed a “written list” of “principles for reclaiming America's media.” The article goes on to note that Blethen's priorities would be:

to maintain current FCC rules, including minority ownership requirements and public service obligations. He also supports new legislation to ban companies from owning both television stations and newspapers in the same market. Radio ownership rules should be rolled back to 1996, when regulations were relaxed.

This last part, btw, refers to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which is probably the worst piece of media legislation imaginable. Anyway, this is not Blethen’s first shot across the media’s bow. He gained a little more attention back in September when he penned an anti-consolidation article in the Washington Post that began: “Democracy is in crisis -- not in far parts of the world but right here in the United States.”

I wonder if anyone is listening - outside of Portland, Maine, that is.