Local Senator Leads Fight Against Media Merger By HEATHER HADDON
If one merger in particular is approved, 70 percent of the Spanish market will be controlled by the powerful Univision Communications, Inc., based in Los Angeles. The company, already the top owner of Spanish-language TV, cable and music outfits, is seeking to buy out the Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC), the largest owner of Spanish-language radio stations. The FCC, which oversees the contentious issue of media acquisitions, has considered the case for over a year -- an unusually long review period. Opposition to the plan has grown steadily in the halls of Congress. González, who is usually low-key, is very riled up about the issue. "Univision already owns Spanish-language record companies, concert venues, the TV and the radio," he said in a recent interview. "How the hell is anyone going to be able to compete?" The crux of the issue is whether Spanish-speaking media -- which reaches over 35 million Latinos nationally and almost 100,000 in our area -- constitutes a separate market from English programming. Merger proponents say no, arguing that a merger helps Univision compete with even larger media giants like Viacom. A decision by the Justice Department followed this reasoning. But others vehemently disagree. "Russian is not the same as English, nor any other language, just as Spanish isn't the same," Gonzáez said. "We want programming we know." If they are considered separate markets, the merger would violate anti-trust laws. And as asserted by many media advocates, preventing such mergers would also help preserve a diversity of voices and opinions, which they fear are quickly being lost. "Companies, like every house, must have rules," Gonz‡lez said. "It has to have rules that promote the best public interest, diversity and localism. When consolidating companies are buying everything out, the issues in local communities are just not going to get covered." These worries are not limited to Spanish-language broadcasting. Accelerating in the mid-1990s, when media consolidation rules were softened, companies formed by mega-mergers have out-competed many local stations. A closely watched FCC decision last month continued this trend, allowing companies to own a greater share of TV stations in local markets. The ruling, now being challenged by the U.S. Senate, spurred widespread public outcry and gave momentum to anti-merger advocates. But González, former president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, came to media activism from a different trajectory. In 1998, a leaked memo from the head of a New York advertising firm instructed his staff to avoid running commercials on "urban" stations. According to González, the memo crudely stated: "Don't advertise to blacks and Hispanics. They don't bring you prospects, but suspects." The incident opened a wider investigation among activists and federal officials of an understudied trend -- advertisers who avoid programming geared toward people of color. Gonzáez and the Reverend Al Sharpton formed a research group, the Madison Avenue Initiative, to study and lobby on the issue. From there, González went on to chair the National Hispanic Policy Institute to further research bias in the Spanish-language market. The Institute has been at the forefront of the battle against the Univision merger, lobbying for support among Congressional leaders. A handful of Democrats responded by firing off letters to the FCC. They also sponsored ads in national papers, criticizing Jerrold Perenchio -- a white billionaire and Univision's president -- as having little sympathy for Hispanic interests. "In each entity of this alliance, Univision, HBC and Clear Channel [HBC's parent company], not one member of senior management is Hispanic," said González in a letter to the FCC. "Nor is there significant Hispanic representation on the board of directors." But Univision has fought back. An Institute ad claiming that Univision supported a California voter-approved initiative, aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from receiving government services, sparked an advertising counterattack. Others accuse the Institute of being a front for the Spanish Broadcasting System, the owner of 29 radio stations, which could lose big in the merger. The company has also been a contributor to González' campaigns. But the senator, who plans to file suit if the merger is approved, says he is acting in the public interest. "I'm just a regular citizen, a viewer of TV and listener of radio," he said. "I should have, and any of my constituents should have, the right to bring up this issue in front of FCC, which is charged with serving the public. Consolidation in the Spanish-language media market has already gone too far."
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While
state lawmakers are not usually known for their federal lobbying efforts,
local State Senator Efrain González, Jr. has taken an active role in a
hot national issue -- media mergers. González is leading a protracted
battle against proposed mergers in the Spanish-language media market. A
decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected in the
coming weeks.