Speaking as a part of the National Radio Project on May 11, 2005, Mark Lloyd said that white Americans are "in a very protected position vis a vis broadcast stations."
In his view, "As a result of this, we end up in a situation where we don't know the problems and challenges that a variety of the communities living in the United States face" (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, h/t Story Balloon):
Well, all media in this country, but particularly broadcast media, was established at a time when all non-white Americans, and actually most women had very few protected legal rights in this country. As a result of that, various policies were developed that put essentially white Americans in a very protected position vis a vis broadcast stations. White Americans own and control 98 percent of all federal licenses to all broadcast operations in the United States. If this were South Africa, if this were any other country, and you saw roughly a third of the population licensed to two percent of the resources, that we would be shocked and dismayed and quite concerned about that situation. But, again, that is the situation in the United States.
It is not because there are, I don't think, deliberate policies in place now. It's because historical patterns have established this incredible inequality in the ability to communicate messages, again, among ourselves and other Americans. As a result of this, we end up in a situation where we don't know the problems and challenges that a variety of the communities living in the United States face. [...]
If we don't understand how important media is, we cannot solve any other problem the society faces. And that means changing policies so that we can get more views on the air, so that not one interest is able to dominate our discussion in the United States...The problem with media, it really takes changing the fundamental rules.
Wow. This man has an official position at the FCC?
