itsmeeeeeee

Obama eyes media with promise of antitrust push - Yahoo! News

By Jeff Mason 28 minutes ago

PENDLETON, Oregon (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama said on Sunday he would pursue a vigorous antitrust policy if he becomes U.S. president and singled out the media industry as one area where government regulators would need to be watchful as consolidation increases.

"I will assure that we will have an antitrust division that is serious about pursuing cases," the Illinois senator told an audience of mostly senior citizens in Oregon.

"There are going to be areas, in the media for example where we're seeing more and more consolidation, that I think (it) is legitimate to ask...is the consumer being served?"

Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination to contest November's presidential election against Republican Sen. John McCain, criticized President George W. Bush's administration for lax supervision of major mergers, though he did not cite specific examples or companies.

"We're going to have an antitrust division in the Justice Department that actually believes in antitrust law. We haven't had that for the last seven, eight years," Obama said.

"Some of the consolidations that have been taking place, I think, may be anti-competitive."

Obama advisers have also said he would crack down on any competition lapses in the energy sector that have resulted from big corporate mergers.

In a position statement for the American Antitrust Institute issued previously, Obama highlighted drug and insurance companies, saying his administration would work to prevent agreements that kept cheaper generic drugs from entering the market.

He also said his administration would ensure that drug and insurance companies were not abusing monopoly positions by instituting "unjustified" price increases.

Obama told reporters a new approach to antitrust policy in general may be needed.

"We live in a globalized economy and we probably have to update how we approach antitrust to figure out what is truly uncompetitive behavior on the part of monopolies or oligopolies and what are just big successful companies that need to be big in order to compete internationally," he said.

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Rollerball

Please! Let it be so!

This media monopoly is more of a danger to America than any single problem because through it all problems are effected. It is unthinkable that so few have control over what the overwhelming majority of Americans see as news, (the uninformed voters), especially when they have no problem letting their opinions effect what the country sees.






Where's BornRight? I just found another reason to vote for Obama.
and it's a hellofa good one too!

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Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein

itsmeeeeeee

i suspect that john edwards will be obama's attorney general, and with obama in the white house, and edwards as attorney general, and an intense focus on enforcing anti-trust in the justice department, it could make one hell of a HUGE difference.

not just in the media, but in the pharma and insurance industries - which obama has also pledged to go after!

if you're sick to death of how things have been going in this country, ya gotta love this!

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Mithrall

They need to not only look at who owns the newsmedia outlets and how many of them they own, they need to look at how the media and lawmakers interact. Allowing the MSM to be fed talking points by the government is a bad idea. I am sure some reporters loved it when the Bush Administration wrote thier stories for them but it is a little bit like bringing your car into the shop and the mechanics not even bothering to check under the hood.