If nothing else, the hullabaloo regarding Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election, and last week's congressional hearings, highlight the important role of Internet outlets such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as alternatives sources of information and entertainment. Indeed, it is blinking reality not to recognize that in many respects, new media sources, including but those accessible via the Internet, have overtaken an information marketplace in which traditional newspapers and broadcast TV and radio stations thrived.
The diversity of viewpoints readily available in today's media marketplace is sharply at odds with the maintenance of legacy media ownership controls by the Federal Communications Commission. But change finally may be in the works. The FCC is set to vote shortly on Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to curtail substantially the agency's broadcast ownership restrictions that long ago outlived their original purpose.
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