WHITE MEN:

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting released a study in its June 2002 magazine Extra! found that 92% of all U.S. news sources on the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscast in 2001 were white, 85% were male and when party affiliation was identifiable, 75% were Republican. The study found that out of 14,632 sources, only 7% were black, 0.6% were Latino, and 0.2% Asian. Only one Native American was used as a source. The study also noted that representatives from big business (7%) were 35 times more likely to be used as a source in a story than union representatives (0.2%). To view a copy of the report, visit FAIR's Web site at www.fair.org

MEDIA CONSOLIDATION:

Senators Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), chairman of the Senate's Commerce Committee, Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) have written Federal Communications Commission Chair Michael Powell, requesting that the agency "undertake a study of concentration in the television programming marketplace and its impact on program diversity." The senators asked Powell for the study to be completed by the end of the year or when the commission acts on any media ownership rules.

"Diversity of voices and opinions are vital to competition as well as the discourse of our democracy," the senators wrote.

"Given the substantial, ongoing consolidation in the media industry and recent court decisions striking down rules that restrain this trend, we are extremely concerned that this competition and discourse is at risk."