Decrying the decline of minority voices in the mainstream media, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Irving today pointed to one place where the African Americans and other groups have found their voice: the Internet.
He mentioned in a speech to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters the creation of what some have called the "chip-hop generation" - the arrival online of large numbers of young African Americans and sites which speak to them. He urged the broadcasters to respond.
"Hip-hop and urban contemporary music are on the Net. Minority-owned stations are not. You have the power to change that," Irving said.
Announcing the findings of an annual Commerce Department survey of minority media ownership, Irving held up Net broadcasting as a beacon of hope in an environment increasingly dominated by white-owned conglomerates. The survey found that minorities own a mere 322 of 11,475 commercial broadcast stations. Their percentage of the market has declined since 1996. Due to the sale of US Radio, the largest black-owned broadcast company in the United States, black ownership decreased by 30 stations.
"It is time to have a renewed examination and public debate about the effects of media concentration, and the importance of minority ownership," said Irving, who heads Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration. "There is always going to be churn in the market, but we all have an interest in preserving a diversity of voices."
