Leif and Pat and the FTAA

In an unlikely encounter in the Minneapolis/St.Paul airport on his way to cover the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations in Miami, Leif Utne spotted conservative commentator Pat Buchanan. The FTAA is one thing they agreed upon (in Buchanan's words): "I’m agin it!. [smiles] I’ve been against all this for years, and what they’re doing now, it’s madness...I approach it from the standpoint of protecting the American worker. Others talk about people in developing countries. I stand for American jobs."

What would the FTAA--essentially an expanded NAFTA--mean for media? Here's Free Press' take on it:

In the U.S., laws that limit media consolidation could be considered 'trade violations.' Policies that promote media localism, diversity, and pluralism could be classified as 'barriers to trade.' Multinational corporations could seek cash 'compensation' — paid for by taxpayer dollars — if tribunals of trade lawyers found our government's public interest media policies to be 'unduly burdensome' to competition. FTAA member nations would have to comply with FTAA rulings or face multi-million or -billion dollar punitive sanctions.

And what's so bad about the FTAA? Larry Weiss of the Minnesota Fair Trade Association explains.