Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/761022
On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary committee held a significant hearing on the proposed $84 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner, which owns CNN. AT&T'sCEORandallStephen- son testified, and faced tough questions from senators who seemed to understand allowing this merger will have important implications for a free press and American democracy for many years to come. During the recent election candidate Trump said, "AT&T is buying Time Warner, and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few." Since then a number of press reports — no doubt pushed by AT&T — are suggesting Pres- ident Trump will have a lais- sez faire approach and the deal will go through. Knowing of the grassroots concerns that many conservative leaders share, I doubt President Trump or Congress will rubber stamp this deal. Trump was right when he warned of the massive concen- tration of media power in a few hands. Consider that today 90 per- cent of cable television networks are owned by just six compa- nies: Time Warner (CNN), Via- com, CBS, ABC, Comcast (NBC) and 21st Century Fox. Of these major conglomer- ates only Fox gives conserva- tives a fair shake. New, inde- pendent networks like News- max TV are on the rise, but the big media still controls, danger- ously, the flow of information to the public. Trump was their most recent victim. A combination of AT&T and Time Warner will be toxic, fur- ther constricting competition and press diversity. AT&T is a giant media com- pany which also owns DirecTV. They also were a major cor- porate backer of Hillary Clin- ton's presidential campaign. They strongly opposed Donald Trump's election. Time Warner's CNN was nothing short of the "Clinton News Network" — a 24-hour propaganda machine spewing out anti-Trump and anti-Re- publican venom. Right now AT&T has 26.3 million pay TV subscribers through DirecTV and ATT U- verse service — controlling about 25 percent of the U.S. ca- ble market. They are the largest cable/satellite operator in the U.S. bar none. By owning the largest chunk of cable home dis- tribution, AT&T will obviously be in a position to favor their own channels like CNN, over other channels like Fox News, Newsmax and many others. The ability for AT&T to dis- criminate against other cable networks that could compete against CNN or their other net- works would be endless. AT&T, which controls a huge percent of the mobile telephone market, could exempt its mo- bile customers from data usage charges if they stream CNN con- tent, but streaming independent news networks like Newsmax might continue to count against high speed data caps. Frankly, I am usually in fa- vor of government keeping its hands-off business activities. But there are exceptions. When certain businesses act like monopolies or near mo- nopolies, have unusual access to publicly-owned or controlled distribution systems, and get preferential access to broad- cast/satellite airwaves, then government has a compelling need to insure that such media companies act in a fair way to insure competition and the di- versity of public opinion. We already know that vertical integration of cable operators undermines competition. For example, when Comcast completed its merger of NBC back in 2011, it promised that it would not favor its own chan- nels over other channels, agree- ing to a condition that would have put the Bloomberg finan- cial news channel on equal footing with CNBC across its distribution platform. It is well known that Comcast never honored the condition. For this and other reasons, Com- cast's recent effort to merge with Time Warner was rejected. AT&T has not demonstrated, in my opinion, a real desire to support the public's interest in the areas of competition, diver- sity and fairness. Recently the Department of Justice sued AT&T and its subsidiary DirecTV for price fixing and illegally colluding to harm consumers. There are many reasons why the FCC and Congress needs to handle this merger with in- tense scrutiny and remember this is not a business decision, but a matter that affects our democratic institutions. President-elect Trump knows this first hand. SendcommentstoReagan@ caglecartoons.com. Follow @ reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan Trumprighttoworry about media merger Cartoonist's take Hopefully we can get through 1,000 words without mentioning the "T" word, and should be able to move on without mentioning the President Elect. And yet, the big fellow was named by Time maga- zine as the year's most significant person. I could not agree more heartedly. How- ever, a similar con man is just now getting out of a protracted stay in the slammer where he served time for manslaughter. James Arthur Ray, 59, was a charismatic and much in de- mand motivational speaker and first came to real promi- nence in 2006. His shtick was called "harmonic wealth," and basically a method of spiritual time management that prom- ised to help followers keep their lives in order. Ray's suc- cess allowed him to charge huge speaking and event fees, including the ill-fated sweat lodge event in Sedona in 2009. That retreat was one of his most expensive events at around $10,000 per head. Ray told participants in the sweat lodge that they needed "to surrender to death to survive it." Three people died from heat stroke that night after enduring 200 degrees Fahren- heit temperatures. Since Ray's release, he has attempted to regain promi- nence in the self-help world and is hoping to have the manslaughter charges he was slapped with following the sweat lodge deaths, put aside. ••• Police Logs this week stated: "A 70-year-old man in a wheelchair was harassing a woman in Safeway while she was shopping." If I were the person being harassed, I would have asked the man to show proof that he had a medical condition that required him to be in the store in a wheelchair. If he was not quick about it, I think tipping him over backward would be an appropriate response to the harassment he was dishing out to that poor woman. ••• Mel Brooks avowed in his "The 2000 Year Old Man" rou- tine years ago that "Instant Prell Shampoo is the greatest inven- tion of mankind." However, tech- nology has caught up with the old fellow, and I nominate self lacing shoes now on the market for that dubious honor. ••• Something else I did not know: That Barack Obama was such a bad President. According to the Tuesday columnist, Obama facilitated the rise to power of the President Elect. Appar- ently there are at least 6 rea- sons why our current head of state was such (in the words of his successor) "a loser." How did this country ever survive dur- ing the past 8 years? But, not to worry, the family destined to oc- cupy the White House is such a class act they will make a per- son proud to be an American, I mean when America becomes great once again. ••• We were sorry to hear of the passing of Nicolino Clem- ente. Nick was the proprietor of Red Bluff Rentals when we were operating our meat plant across the way on the north side of West Walnut. Most re- cently Nick was the CEO of Quality Safety and Fire Pro- tection and serviced the ex- tinguishers in our office. He also supplied us with small desk calendars that we placed here and there about the of- fice so as to never be in doubt as to the day of the month. I hope someone in his office will still provide the calen- dars. They will remind us of Nick who, when responding to my phone call, "Nick? Robert Minch here," would pause, and then reply "Yes, Bobby, how are you?" I found that rather touching after all the years we had known each other. ••• Desperate to avoid the "T" word as promised, I direct you to our favorite story teller Gar- rison Keillor, who described in an insert to a collection of his stories how he became the per- former he is today, or was, for I hear he has retired, at least from his Prairie Home Com- panion radio shows. He writes, "My work has been a blessing, even if it isn't as distinguished as one had hoped for. A person can feel stymied in his day to day life, but if you can throw yourself into your work you can feel re- deemed from failure and take comfort from the weariness of your endeavor" or words to that effect. And he adds, "Ev- ery story springs from a germ in real life, and the aim is to create a dream for the listener, one that feels real." As a minor writer of mod- est means, I lay claim to no such grandeur. I want readers to merely know that what they see in I Say springs often from incidents in real life. However, my opinion pieces are just that and reflect my reaction to lo- cal and national news that is often out-of-step with the majority. The recent election comes painfully to mind. That said, that written, my book "The Knocking Pen," now in limited reprinting, keeps pretty close to the vest. Sto- ries such as when Dick Cotton, working in the gut room be- low the kill floor, applied shav- ing cream to his face to indi- cate he was crazy and foaming at the mouth and thus scaring the bejezus out of the young black kid who had entered the room to collect the offal for the Tallow Plant, and causing the kid to almost leap clear of the dump truck parked 6 feet below, only to overshoot same, causing him to suffer a broken leg, this being the gospel truth. ••• An elderly couple had just learned how to send text mes- sages on their mobile phones. The wife was a romantic type and the husband was more of a no-nonsense guy. One afternoon the wife went out to meet a friend for coffee. She decided to send her hus- band a romantic text mes- sage and she wrote: "If you are sleeping, send me your dreams. If you are laughing, send me your smile. If you are eating, send me a bite. If you are crying, send me your tears. I love you." The husband wrote back to her: "I'm on the toilet. Please advise." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Avoiding the 'T' word in 1,000 words There are many reasons why the FCC and Congress needs to handle this merger with intense scrutiny and remember this is not a business decision, but a matter that affects our democratic institutions. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. Yes.Weneedthesnowawholelotmore than we need the rain. Norma Henry: On winter activities available at Lassen Volcanic National Park The motorcyclist who was killed was a very experienced, very safe rider, and one of the nicest guys in the world. Bruce Campbell: On a collision Saturday that killed a motorcyclist in Gerber Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. 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Your officials By Michael Reagan Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, December 9, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6