Seattle Opens Can 'o Whoop Ass on FCC Chairman

On Friday night, some 1,000 people packed the Seattle Town Hall to say no to the Federal Communications Commission's plan to let the largest media companies further consolidate ownership. And it wasn't just a bunch of lefties.

The heavy hitters were there, and they gave the FCC Chairman an earful. Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire , Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna, Republican Congressman Dave Reichert, and Republican County Councilmember Reagan Dunn all offered testimony against consolidation, along with other Democratic leaders. "I'm a Republican and I'm a capitalist. But some areas of our private sector must be regulated," said Dunn.

These leaders and the hundreds of activists who also testified that night understand that the US media is flooding us with celebrity gossip, sound byte news coverage, and hypercommercialsm that is failing to provide the information that democracy requires.

But FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has made it clear that he doesn't care one bit. The White House-appointed chairman of the five-member commission is one of Washington's dwindling class of hard core Bush loyalists, and he plans to remove some of the last remaining media ownership limits before the end of the year. Seven years ago, Martin was a 33 year-old GOP attorney sent by Team Bush to lead the Florida recount. His wife is a former senior counselor to Vice-President Cheney, and now serves as a deputy assistant to President Bush.

In keeping with the Administration's staggering disregard for the public interest, Martin is ramming the rule changes through despite more than 99% of the public voicing opposition to further media consolidation. Despite the fact that racial and ethnic minorities make up 33 percent of the U.S. population, yet only own 7.7 percent of full-power radio stations and 3.26 percent of television stations.

Many people who spoke at the hearing, including the Democratic Commissioners said they are certain that Martin and his two fellow Republican commissioners have already have made up their minds. If the FCC quickly proposes new rules, "you know your input was dismissed," said Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein at the Seattle hearing.

In 2003, the public will was heard loud and clear. Nearly 3 million people - from the left and right - protested the FCC's partisan vote to remove some of the same rules. The outcry caused Congress to vote to overturn the new rules, and a federal court eventually sent them back to the FCC. It was a firestorm, and as Chairman Martin moves at the behest of Big Media companies and the White House, he is throwing himself in front of a busload of public opposition. Senator Dorgan (D-ND) said in a recent hearing that when that firestorm erupts, he "would carry the wood."

The Seattle public hearing was the last of six public hearings that Martin promised to conduct before bringing the issue to a vote. Martin caused an outcry when he announced the event with just six days notice. He did the same thing a week earlier with a hearing at the FCC in Washington.

But the short notice didn't matter. At both hearings, overwhelming majorities offered impassioned testimony about how poorly the media are covering local, national, and international issues. They spoke about the importance of local, diverse and critical voices, and the adverse effect of profit-obsessed conglomerates buying up local TV, radio and newspapers. Martin was spanked.

And, the two Democrats - arguably the best FCC commissioners in the history of the agency - continue to oppose Martin at every turn. On the day of the hearing, Commissioner Michael Copps said "The people's airwaves should be used to add diverse voices and to encourage local content, rather than bringing in more homogenized, nationalized and sterile corporate 'entertainment' and letting Big Media shut down the civic dialogue upon which the future of our democracy rests."

All eyes are now on Kevin Martin. If he moves for a vote this December, the outcome will be determined by the size and volume of public opposition. It will hinge on whether enough Americans say, in the words of the Howard Beale in the legendary 1976 film Network, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

Comments

[BarryChamplain]

It's not going to matter that The People have spoken. The fix is in. The People were just props.

Martin has his job as FCC Chairman because, to the people who installed him there.... this IS his job.

Send me a singing telegram, when you finally figure out that this regime does what it damn well pleases; end of discussion.

[NoPCZone]

The next time someone tells you that elections aren't important, add this to the list of reasons. Everywhere you look, Bush and his NeoCon go-bots have been destroying everything they touch.

[jeaton]

I'm with realpolitic above, this all about controlling the message. Martin is a Bush toadie on a mission in advance of the '08 election.

[realitytrumpsbull]

The whole thing makes you wish there was a
whole bunch more independent non-network
stations and channels. A free press being a
general extension of free speech, it stands
to reason that it'll be improved by having
more people participate, and not just building
mega-networks that can end up owned by some
guy from overseas that wants to play HIS
brand of propaganda for american viewers etc...

[LeftRight]

Does anyone really expect him to listen to us? Even if we all stand up with one voice (which we have been doing) and tell him he's an idiot and to stop, he will only hear what bushco(tm) says. And bushco(tm) says only what the big business says.

The only thing that might stop this is for congress to step in again, and you know that the big money would fight against that in congress, and in the courts if needed....

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

I believe the outcry this time will be so much more intense....These people know America is awake and watching...
Let him try this and it will be his downfall.
They say after he leaves his post at the FCC, he plans on becoming the governor of N.C.

[sonofloud]

Just another example of how alienated the people are from the American government.
Those in power have absolutely no regard or interest in what the majority of the people want.

[nancytheragingliberal]

No way for more consolidation of the Media. Isn't Murdock's power grab enough? There should be an equal distribution of information from both sides of the aisle. Enough of this repub. mentality. This is not a problem for me. I just turn off the TV and turn on XM Satellite Radio. It works for me.

[TheIndependenceParty]

It is clear that Kevin Martin is politically, if not financially, beholden to the Murdochs, Clear Channels, and Fox News's of the brodcast world. The screed going out from the right on AM and FM, would lead one to think that they are an endangered species. A survey of both bands, the TV broadcast spectrum, and the news print media reveal quite the oppposite. Far from there being an onslaught of liberal competition, there is nearly universally conservative programming across the bands, specifically because there is highly concentrated ownership of the bands by a few corporations. Rather than being stewards of the airwaves and interests of the communities they serve, ... Martin and his Republican cronies have attempted at every turn to focus the access and control in the hands of monied friends. Fundamentalist Christian broadcasters raise the specter of being forced to broadcast Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist doctrines and services, if the "Fairness Doctrine" is reinstituted. This smokescreen is intended to obscure the ownership expansion that Martin is all about at this time.

Further tightening this control by expanding the percentage of ownership allowed by a single broadcaster among a dwindling few does nothing but reveal Martin's desperation, and chairman Powell's before him, ... that their sway over the broadcast bands will be short-lived. Martin may act despite massive public outrage against him. In that case, the People of America must be willing and prepared to injoin him from acting capricously in a way that will last long after he has been yanked from offie!

The airwaves, Mister Martin, are America's, and will remain so in spite of you. The "vast wasteland" (http://www.quoteworld.org/docs/nmvas328.php) wisely foreseen by your predecessor, former FCC Chair Newton Norman Minow, will only be laid waste if you guarantee that their diversity and quality are further focused in the hands of a crass and wealthy cadre of owners. Perhaps you should read his concerns before you act in haste!

Perhaps we all should.

[realpolitic]

Count on the Bush administration to act against the public interest.

The Bushies do not want an aggressive media to uncover their lawlessness and wrecklessness. They want a jingoistic, Fox News-style press beholden to corporate interests.

[racom]

Another classic example of the attitude of this administration, 'we do not give a rats ass what you think'! We have come to expect the bushies to follow the established path of 'do what we want, to hell with the country'. Someone please tell me/us again, how is this a democracy? We can all forget the old fable, 'government by the people, for the people'.