The media ownership problem

TV dinosaur Dan Rather revamps his career at age 74, and I’m glad to see it. No, he wasn’t a print journalist, but network news has suffered as much as newspapers with the onset of the electronic information age.

He obviously wasn’t ready to give up working and give up journalism – and fortunately Rather has found a new niche that I predict will be satisfying for him and a journalistic success.

Ironically, Rather will be working for Mark Cuban, who was the subject of my second post. Cuban’s approach to broadcast journalism is a novel, hands-off one. Rather will have complete editorial control of his programming.

A lot different from CBS. The problem with newspapers and television stations is they are (mostly) owned by corporate conglomerates who are not only concerned with the bottom line but also keeping an eye on regulations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, which has allowed media companies to buy more and more newspapers, television and radio stations in the same market.

"We're dealing with a small audience, a very small audience," Rather says. "I have no illusions about that. But it's a quality audience." The problem with huge media companies, says the man who spent his career working for one, is that "they have legislative and regulatory needs in Washington. They have the imperative of increasing stockholder value. What we've learned in the last 25 to 35 years is that this creates all kinds of potential pressures and influences on what news consumers get."

With his new venture, says Rather, "there's no ratings pressure at all, none, zero. No demographic pressure, zero. Where else in television -- or, for that matter, radio or print -- can you say that? This is light-years away."