One of the greatest assaults to our democracy at the present moment is the extreme accretion of power of the media into just a handful of corporate chief executives.

To put this in perspective: in 1983 there were 50 different corporations that had control over our media, today there are only six. (Viacom, Comcast, Disney, TimeWarner, CBS, and News Corporation) In short, it amounts to a monopoly on what we hear, and what we view, on TV and Radio.

If you think the situation couldn't get worse, think again. There is a move to "suspend" the FCC rules that requires public input and debate to changes in the FCC rules that would allow for even more media concentration, into what we read in our newspapers as well.

The change proposed by the publicly appointed FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, would allow the six major corporations left standing to get even bigger. The chairman wants to allow the media giants to able to control not only the newspapers in the same "geographic" areas, but also the radio and television stations, which heretofore has been banned.

Even if the FCC board wants to make this rule change, why would they move to do so without public input or debate? You don't suppose, do you, that the media giants are pushing for the rule changes and making them in secret, in hopes of producing ever-higher profits?

Keep this fact in mind: the media voices you are hearing today are already largely from the same media sources. That's why we must be vigilant and remember that the "freedom of the press" is the only business mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.

How much freedom of information will there be if all the information is controlled by fewer, not more, corporations or private citizens (Rupert Murdock), whose primary motivation is high profits and marshaling public opinion. This rule change is moving quickly and secretly because the FCC doesn't want public discussion. It wants it enacted quietly under the radar screen.

Let me remind you that not only will our freedom of information be further challenged, but also these profit-minded corporations don't generally want to discuss the "real" issues that affect "ordinary" citizens.

A substantive debate should take place on the issue. " How much media concentration can we tolerate before we lack the proper diversity of news sources that a democracy deserves? We can only keep a free government alive with a wide range of ideas that are heard and openly debated. What is going on to cause the FCC Board to make a decision without public discussion?

Too much concentration and control of information in too few hands is dangerous to our fragile democracy. Just look how captured we have been by the continual coverage and allusion to the looming "fiscal cliff" night after night, day after day, as the corporate media diverts away from one the most important issues concerning "ordinary citizens," that of creation of more jobs to address the real unemployment rate of over 15 percent and declining middle class income. Let's at least talk about the "employment cliff' as well.

Remember when the Denver Post, Boulder Camera, Colorado Daily, Longmont Times Call, Loveland Reporter-Herald were all separately owned, not to mention the demise of the Rocky Mountain News. One corporation now owns them all, while killing off the Rocky Mountain News.

We can as individuals let the FCC know our feeling before the five-member FCC board makes such sweeping changes. Let's not let this assault on democracy occurs, as we confront maybe the most dangerous crisis of all, the "information cliff."

Jim Martin is former member of the CU Board of Regents.

http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_22241154/media-concentration-is-not-good-democracy