Public airwaves and media ownership laws

Re “What can we own?” editorial, Aug. 25

Nowhere in your editorial about media ownership laws did one see the phrase “public airwaves,” so your plea for less regulation is not worthy of granting. Unless media companies -- which seek to use the public airwaves in hopes of making huge amounts of money while doing the minimum of public service broadcasting -- acknowledge what exactly they are asking for, why should we give it to them? Cable companies spent fortunes wiring the country so they could disperse their product; the networks and local stations have paid what amounts to nothing for decades of use of the publicly owned bandwidth that has enriched them in return.

It is cowardly and dishonest to ask for a break without mentioning, much less thanking, the hand that feeds these media companies so generously.

JIM HOUGHTON

Encino

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The “motley alliance of anti-corporate zealots and conservative activists” that blocked the relaxing of media ownership laws and was not listed in your editorial includes -- in addition to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals -- President Bush, Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the 3-million-plus members of the public who submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership proceeding.

Thanks for clarifying this.

STEPHANIE REMINGTON

Costa Mesa