In anticipation of an upcoming event I plan to attend on the future of journalism, I am working on an op-ed on that distinguishes between the press in its modern corporate form and the press as originally envisioned by the founders. Along those lines, I came along a piece in the Nation celebrating the life of William Safire.
John Nicols observed that more often than not he and Safire disagreed on core issues stating "It's like that with former Nixon speechwriters and Nation scribes." However, the thrust of Nicols piece describes their agreement on the issue of corporate consolidation in the media.
Nicols quotes language from one of apparently several op-eds Safire wrote on the subject.
The Federal Communications Commission, in business to protect the public's interest in our nation's airwaves, has by a 3-to-2 vote opened the floodgates to a wave of media mergers that will further crush local diversity and concentrate the power to mold public opinion in the hands of ever-fewer giant corporations.
This troubles some readers, listeners and viewers who don't like homogenized news or one-size-fits-all entertainment forced down their throats. When I inveighed against this impending sellout a couple of weeks ago, thousands -- no kidding, an unprecedented torrent -- of e-mails came roaring in, many beginning "Though I consider you a rightwing nutcase on most issues, I'm 100% with you against this big-media power grab.