– John F. Kennedy
Spinning the media market
Information is a powerful tool. A noble protector. A foundation of democracy.

In an age where information is all around us, pelting us 24 hours a day, democracy benefits only if information originates from independent sources.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering tinkering with the rules for media ownership, permitting a company to own television, radio and newspapers in the same market area, diminishing the variety and sources of information. It would be the ultimate media spin, a locked market where readers and viewers could see and hear only a single point of view.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, along with Sen. Wayne Allard of Colorado, have asked the FCC to hold off reviewing ownership rules until it has drafted details and until the public has been offered an opportunity to comment.

They are right to make this request.

Media’s role is public watchdog. If all media becomes just another big business in a nation that is increasingly big business friendly, objective scrutiny would suffer as cookie cutter networks and newspapers bend to special interests.

Even Benjamin Franklin recognized that publication of information based on a single publisher’s view was a disservice to the public that has as many opinions and viewpoints as there are various faces.

The direction the FCC appears to be moving will narrow dissemination of information, weakening public debate and nicking democracy.

We join the senators in urging the FCC to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on rules changes.


Weed control
The city of Auburn is right to revise city codes to ensure public safety and promote orderly properties, but it would be a mistake to require all landowners in every reach of the city to mow lawns to specified heights.

Maine is a far cry from Massachusetts. Farther even than Maryland. We like that.

Mandatory mowing in Cape Code? Sure. Silver Spring? By all means.

But it seems almost anti-Maine to write a weed code. And, once written it will have to be enforced.

In Muncie, Indiana, city code requires landowners to mow six times a year within defined dates. City fathers have established a hotline for people to report unmowed lawns.

In Colorado Springs, the weed code requires grass to be maintained below 9 inches. If not, the city mows it down and bills the owner the cost.

Is that what Auburn wants?

Neighbors wielding yardsticks and reporting violations? Adding personal properties to public works’ mowing duties?

If weed-choked lawns are a safety hazard, the city can surely address the hazard under the city’s more general “good repair” standard.
jmeyer@sunjournal.com