"Bucks battle free speech in US media"

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The decision by the Walt Disney Co to block distribution of filmmaker Michael Moore's controversial new documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, has cast new light on the growing influence of large corporations over the flow of information in the US.

"The idea that Disney is declining to release the film because it is political does not bode very well for democratic debate in this country," says Jim Naureckas, a spokesman for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a liberal watchdog group.

"It almost goes without saying that if the film was championing President Bush and lauding his efforts on the war on terrorism, Disney would not have had a problem with it," says Matthew Felling, media director for the Centre for Media and Public Affairs.

"Eisner told my agent that he did not want to anger Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida," Moore said. "The movie, he believed, would complicate an already complicated situation with current and future Disney projects in Florida, and that many millions of dollars of tax breaks and incentives were at stake."

Reports have also surfaced suggesting that Disney's own connection to wealthy Saudi investors may have played a role in the decision. Prince al-Walid bin Talal, the grandson of King Fahd, owns a large stake in Disney's Euro Disney theme park.

"There are reports in the press that Disney is looking for a fresh cash infusion from [al-Walid]," Naureckas says.

At a time when major media companies have waged massive lobbying campaigns to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to change regulations limiting market share ownership, "the grip of commerce" on news reporting is tightening, Felling says.

Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg considered the problem serious enough that he recently called for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to hold hearings on the matter, in part, as a response to the controversy over Disney's move to block the Moore film.

"This is a fundamental question of free speech in our society," Lautenberg said in a statement.

"As our troops are overseas fighting to give the Iraqi people the very freedoms we enjoy, we see some of this country's largest media conglomerates undermining our freedoms here." Full Article