DEAN VOWS TO 'BREAK UP GIANT MEDIA ENTERPRISES'

This isn't going to win him friends with the media elite.

I was thinking the same thing. It will go over like a fart in church.

Good for Dean! Keep moving left Nakita, your election depends upon sound socialist policies. < \brear rabbit in the briar patch>

When Dean says Giant Media Enterprises, he really means Clear Channel and NewsCorp (Fox). The rest of the Giant Media Enterprises work and play well with Democrats.

Sure it will.

He'll break up those media giants FOX, FOXNews, and FX.

Then he'll bravely take on FOXSports and FoxFamily.

You just have to know how to interpret the guy.

Let me translate what he said for you:
"The thing the right wing doesn't understand about capitalism is that it doesn't work until the government controls it all."

He is talking about AOL-Time-Warner....right?

I thought that was the Republican strategy with the prescription drug bill?

Two sides of the same socialist coin...

Dean was quoted (in russian accent) "Comrades, I believe there should be only one state run newspaper. Media Elites are a danger to the cause."

The little media outlets should be safe under Dean's proposal. By this, he means small outlets like PBS, NPR, CBS, NBC, ABC, AP, Reuters, NYT, WashPost.

Its only the really BIG GUYS, like Fox, WashTimes, WSJ.

Dean McGovern. This is going to be one enjoyable election year.

I'd suggest reading the entire article; it's clear that Dean and Chrissy have but one "giant media enterprise" in mind for the knife; News Corp (Fox/FX/Fox News/20th Century Fox/a heap of local TV stations/several newspapers). That is hardly something the media elites will mourn.

Ok, Howard, let's hear the details . . . Howard? . . . Howard?

It will go over like a fart in church.

Or a turd in the punch bowl. ;-)

g

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE DEC 02, 2003 10:01:24 ET XXXXX

DEAN VOWS TO 'BREAK UP GIANT MEDIA ENTERPRISES'

If elected president, Howard Dean vows to "break up giant media enterprises" out of a concern "how deeply media companies can penetrate every single community" in America.

The Dem hopeful made the comments on GENERAL ELECTRIC-owned MSNBC during HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWS.

"The essence of capitalism, which the right-wing never understands -- it always baffles me -- is, you got to have some rules," Dean explained to Matthews and students at Harvard.

MATTHEWS: Well, would you break up GE?

(APPLAUSE)

DEAN: I can`t -- you...

MATTHEWS: GE just buys Universal. Would you do something there about that? Would you stop that from happening?

DEAN: You can`t say -- you can`t ask me right now and get an answer, would I break up X corp...

MATTHEWS: We`ve got to do it now, because now is the only chance we can ask you, because, once you are in, we have got to live with you.

(LAUGHTER)

DEAN: No.

MATTHEWS: So, if you are going to do it, you have got to tell us now.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Are you going to break up the giant media enterprises in this country?

DEAN: Yes, we`re going to break up giant media enterprises. That doesn`t mean we`re going to break up all of GE.

What we`re going to do is say that media enterprises can`t be as big as they are today. I don`t think we actually have to break them up, which Teddy Roosevelt had to do with the leftovers from the McKinley administration.

Dean explained how "11 companies in this country control 90 percent of what ordinary people are able to read and watch on their television. That`s wrong. We need to have a wide variety of opinions in every community. We don`t have that because of Michael Powell and what George Bush has tried to do to the FCC."

Matthews continued:

"Would you break up Fox?"

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: I`m serious.

DEAN: I`m keeping a...

MATTHEWS: Would you break it up? Rupert Murdoch has "The Weekly Standard." It has got a lot of other interests. It has got "The New York Post." Would you break it up?

DEAN: On ideological grounds, absolutely yes, but...

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: No, seriously. As a public policy, would you bring industrial policy to bear and break up these conglomerations of power?

DEAN: I don`t want to answer whether I would break up Fox or not, because, obviously

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Well, how about large media enterprises?

DEAN: Let me -- yes, let me get...

(LAUGHTER)

DEAN: The answer to that is yes.

I would say that there is too much penetration by single corporations in media markets all over this country. We need locally-owned radio stations. There are only two or three radio stations left in the state of Vermont where you can get local news anymore. The rest of it is read and ripped from the AP.

MATTHEWS: So what are you going to do about it? You`re going to be president of the United States, what are you going to do?

DEAN: What I`m going to do is appoint people to the FCC that believe democracy depends on getting information from all portions of the political spectrum, not just one.

Developing...

It will go over like a fart in church.

Or a turd in the punch bowl. ;-)

g

I respectfully disagree.

We need only ask: do we want the government making decisions on what we watch and read or do we want a free marketplace making those decisions.

Sorry for the double-post! The phone rang when I hit "Post" and I thought it hadn't gone thru.

I was wondering if Dean was going to re-name his media plan Pravda II.

g

To him going after media corporations is more important than going after terrorists. Reminds me of somebody who thought going after Microsoft was the most important job for the state department.