Clinton: Tell Congress to Reverse the FCC’s ‘Error’

Former President Bill Clinton calls on Americans to write to Congress and tell it to fix the FCC’s “error” in changing media ownership rules.
In an opinion piece in the New York Daily News over the weekend, he wrote, “People joke about my liking McDonald’s, and I do. But actually I prefer to go down to Lange’s Deli, a great family establishment, near my house. In the brave new world being defined by the FCC, there will be more McMedia on our airwaves and far fewer broadcast equivalents of our favorite local diners.”
The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which many blame for the consolidation of ownership, passed during Clinton’s presidency. When he signed the bill, Clinton focused on its information benefits.
“It is fitting that we mark this moment here in the Library of Congress,” he said then, according to the library’s records. “It is Thomas Jefferson’s building. Most of you know Jefferson deeded his books to the Library after our first Library burned in the War of 1812. … Today the information revolution is spreading light — the light Jefferson spoke about — all across our land and across the world. It will allow every American child to bring the ideas stored in this reading room into his or her own living room.”