What would Madison do?

A commentary piece in the Center for American Progress puts the case for public control of the media very well.

The nation’s founders, particularly Madison, believed that it was important for the public, not merchants, to own and support the major media distribution mechanism of the day – the post office. Public ownership of media remains an important part of U.S. communications policy, but going back as far as the days of the robber barons and the trusts battling against Teddy Roosevelt and Louis Brandeis, corporations have sought to diminish public media.


While most of us rely on corporate media (the New York Times, Verizon, Comcast, NBC, etc.), publicly-owned media continues to struggle for the place the founders established for it. This struggle is illustrated by two seemingly different examples. One involves the future of public broadcasting; the other involves the efforts of the City of Philadelphia to provide its citizens with an alternative means of communication.

As I continue to teach, work, and live in the United States, I am constantly reminded how much the thoughts and opinions of the founders of this country – and the powerful, 18th Century founding documents they produced, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – have been co-opted by powerful late 20th century business interests, to the detriment of the common people (or “regular folks,” as Bush calls them, i.e., us). We need to keep hold of positions such as the one outlined above, because I think that it better represents the spirit of Madison, Jay, Jefferson et al. Flawed individuals that they were, I can’t believe that the founders would have signed on to the present-day corporate agenda as it stands. They recognized the need for an expansive public media realm. I only hope more people today come to recognize, as Sen. John McCain does, the need for that public realm to thrive.


(Sen. McCain (R-Ariz), btw, is heavily involved in media regulation through his position as chair of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee - see also McCain's Commerce Committee press releases.)