http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/2012/11/black_media_ownership_dips.html
"Bill O'Reilly can breathe a little easier.
"Last week while speaking about the reelection of President Obama, the Fox News commentator said, 'The white establishment is now the minority,' " Joe Flint wrote Wednesday for the Los Angeles Times.
"But when it comes to who owns the nation's TV and radio stations, whites -- and white males in particular -- are still the majority.
"The Federal Communications Commission just released its report on the ownership of commercial broadcast stations which reveals that as of 2011, whites own 69.4% of the nation's 1,348 television stations. That's up from 63.4% in 2009, when there were 1,187 stations.
"While white ownership increased, most minority ownership decreased. Blacks went from owning 1% of all commercial TV stations in 2009 to just 0.7% in 2011. Asian ownership slipped from 0.8% in 2009 to 0.5% last year. Latino ownership increased slightly from 2.5% to 2.9%.
"Females owned 6.8% of all commercial TV stations in 2011, compared to 5.6% in 2009.
"It is a similar story in radio. Whites own almost 80% of all AM and FM radio stations, with more than 70% being owned by men."
Translating the percentages into numbers, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable wrote that people of color "owned only 30 full-power TV stations in 2009 and that number was the same in 2011.
"African-American ownership dropped from 12 stations in 2009 to 10 stations in 2011, or less than 1% of the total. Ownership of the balance of the 30 stations (about 1.5% of the total) was spread among Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Asians and others.
"Hispanics and Latinos . . . saw their ownership climb from 30 stations in 2009 to 39 in 2011, or 2.9% of the total. Hispanics represent 16.7% of the population, according to the Census.
" . . . The report does not get into why those minority ownership figures have not significantly improved, or in some cases declined."
The Free Press media advocacy group said in a statement, "If accurate, these data are largely in line with Free Press' studies from 2007, Out of the Picture and Off the Dial, until today the only thorough accounting of female and minority broadcast ownership.
"Despite the extremely low levels of female and minority ownership, the FCC is currently proposing relaxing its cross-ownership rule, which includes limits on ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market. These appear to be the very same rule changes that former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin proposed in 2007 and that the public, Congress and a federal appeals court subsequently rejected. The FCC reportedly plans to vote on its latest round of proposed ownership rules before the end of the year.
"In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threw out the agency's 2007 effort to weaken the cross-ownership rule. In its decision, the court instructed the agency to first evaluate the impact of any rule changes on female and minority owners, who historically have been underrepresented in ownership of radio and television stations, before considering rule changes. The data released today counts who owns what but fails to address the impact of rule changes or meet the court's demands."
Craig Aaron, Free Press president and CEO, asked, ". . . Why is this FCC contemplating a giveaway to the nation's largest media conglomerates when much of the rest of the industry has turned away from the failed consolidation model? Why would the FCC push forward a plan that has no purpose and little support when it could do so much harm? Why does this agency keep dodging the issue of diversity when they have the power to actually do something about it?"
"Bill O'Reilly can breathe a little easier.
"Last week while speaking about the reelection of President Obama, the Fox News commentator said, 'The white establishment is now the minority,' " Joe Flint wrote Wednesday for the Los Angeles Times.
"But when it comes to who owns the nation's TV and radio stations, whites -- and white males in particular -- are still the majority.
"The Federal Communications Commission just released its report on the ownership of commercial broadcast stations which reveals that as of 2011, whites own 69.4% of the nation's 1,348 television stations. That's up from 63.4% in 2009, when there were 1,187 stations.
"While white ownership increased, most minority ownership decreased. Blacks went from owning 1% of all commercial TV stations in 2009 to just 0.7% in 2011. Asian ownership slipped from 0.8% in 2009 to 0.5% last year. Latino ownership increased slightly from 2.5% to 2.9%.
"Females owned 6.8% of all commercial TV stations in 2011, compared to 5.6% in 2009.
"It is a similar story in radio. Whites own almost 80% of all AM and FM radio stations, with more than 70% being owned by men."
Translating the percentages into numbers, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable wrote that people of color "owned only 30 full-power TV stations in 2009 and that number was the same in 2011.
"African-American ownership dropped from 12 stations in 2009 to 10 stations in 2011, or less than 1% of the total. Ownership of the balance of the 30 stations (about 1.5% of the total) was spread among Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Asians and others.
"Hispanics and Latinos . . . saw their ownership climb from 30 stations in 2009 to 39 in 2011, or 2.9% of the total. Hispanics represent 16.7% of the population, according to the Census.
" . . . The report does not get into why those minority ownership figures have not significantly improved, or in some cases declined."
The Free Press media advocacy group said in a statement, "If accurate, these data are largely in line with Free Press' studies from 2007, Out of the Picture and Off the Dial, until today the only thorough accounting of female and minority broadcast ownership.
"Despite the extremely low levels of female and minority ownership, the FCC is currently proposing relaxing its cross-ownership rule, which includes limits on ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market. These appear to be the very same rule changes that former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin proposed in 2007 and that the public, Congress and a federal appeals court subsequently rejected. The FCC reportedly plans to vote on its latest round of proposed ownership rules before the end of the year.
"In 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threw out the agency's 2007 effort to weaken the cross-ownership rule. In its decision, the court instructed the agency to first evaluate the impact of any rule changes on female and minority owners, who historically have been underrepresented in ownership of radio and television stations, before considering rule changes. The data released today counts who owns what but fails to address the impact of rule changes or meet the court's demands."
Craig Aaron, Free Press president and CEO, asked, ". . . Why is this FCC contemplating a giveaway to the nation's largest media conglomerates when much of the rest of the industry has turned away from the failed consolidation model? Why would the FCC push forward a plan that has no purpose and little support when it could do so much harm? Why does this agency keep dodging the issue of diversity when they have the power to actually do something about it?"
at people at the BET Awards claiming it was black owned 
