No democratic society can function without mass communication. In order for the people to direct the function of government they must have the ability to know what is happening and have access to new ideas, and individuals must be able to present their ideas to the masses. This is currently not possible in any significant way because the Telecommunications Act of 1996 deregulated media ownership and enabled just six corporations to gain possession of eighty percent of the U.S. mass media. A handful of people control what the vast majority of Americans see, hear and read. These media owners are obligated by financial reasons not to present information which can negatively affect the huge corporations which buy the advertising they sell. That means we are rarely exposed to the truth, and a democracy can not function if the people are unaware of the truth.

Consider the (currently suspended) boycott of Exxon-Mobile sponsored by The Dreamers. If this boycott had been mentioned daily in national news programs the majority of Americans and other consumers worldwide would have participated and within a few weeks gas prices would have plummeted. Exxon and the other major oil companies spend hundreds of millions each year on advertising and no media network can afford to lose such a large customer. The way things are now, we will never see continuous media coverage of this or any other boycott of products supplied by a major advertiser.

The U.S. government controls the licensing of the airwaves and big media corporations can have their licenses pulled if they interfere with the intended spin government wants projected to the public. Just prior to the onset of the Iraq war in 2003, more than one-hundred million people worldwide were out in the streets in the largest one day protest ever seen on this planet. Most television news media provided less than 15 seconds of coverage of this historic event because it was not in line with the government spin.

Then there is the fact that no person can be elected President in this country without having many millions of dollars to spend on advertising. This automatically forces candidates to support the desired legislation of their contributors, which are generally large corporations. The way things are now the people have no voice.

The airwaves belong to the people and the only way for the people to get them back is through new regulations designed to benefit the people rather than the bottom line of a few big corporations. Here are a few regulations that can help improve things.

No entity should be allowed to own more than one TV channel, radio station or newspaper in any single media market. This makes it possible for national networks to exist, but prevents the current situation where a single company can own virtually all the media outlets in any one metropolitan area.

Every market must have at least one local TV channel and radio station exclusively for the public to voice opinion, and there should be a national version as well. These stations would become the outlet for political campaign advertising, with such advertising being prohibited from all other media that charges payment for advertising.

Cable and satellite television and radio carrying advertising should be free. If consumers have to pay to receive media signals they should not have to pay to see and hear unwanted advertising.

Advertising should be limited to no more than 10 minutes per hour.

No content unrelated to the current television program content should be displayed during the program (other than emergency warnings). Television programs began with simple channel logos in the corner of the screen, then moved to covering the bottom of the screen with images which often block subtitles, and now even contain sounds that directly interfere with programming. Left unchecked advertising for products could eventually run simultaneously with all programming.

Programming not specifically intended for children should not be censored. It is an insult to mature viewers to view material which has been censored for children. Programs deemed inappropriate for children should not be presented at all on general programming channels, which can be blocked by parents, while special channels should exist for children's programming.

News and commentary should be clearly identified as such. News programs have recently blurred the line between journalistic reporting and personal commentary, to where the public is presented with biased opinion reported as news. It is impossible for the public to perceive the truth when the truth is no longer the objective of news reporting.

Government should have its own news channel, with oversight by independent parties. Government operated by the people for the people can inform the public without the bias of advertisers. But since government programming is also subject to corruptive influence this channel should be monitored by a body of rotating individuals who check for accuracy and avoid spin. A free press also acts to place checks on any information disseminated by government.