posted December 14, 2007 11:47 PM              

Big Media is Making us Sick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilNLeXefmNw

Stop Big Media Now Sign the Petition

http://www.stopbigmedia.com/

posted December 15, 2007 12:21 PM              

Martin is pushing a change in the rules that would allow a company to own both a newspaper and a radio or television station in the same city. Martin says it will help a struggling newspaper industry but many fear that this would pave the way for further media consolidation.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts warned that Martin was inviting a "congressional response" by refusing to give the issue more time and consideration.

On Tuesday the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bill to block the vote and it will now go before the full Senate. The bill would prevent the FCC from voting on the cross-ownership proposal for at least six months and would require publishing any rule changes in the Federal Register 90 days prior to a vote. This would give the public 60 days to comment and another 30 days for reply comments.

Martin told Senators that the media ownership changes were studied extensively by the Commission and that several public hearings had been held in major U.S. cities.

"I've done my best to do so in an open and transparent fashion," Martin said.

Seattle citizens recently voiced loud complaints about the process at a public hearing that was announced November 2 and held November 9. The two Democratic members of the Commission, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, blasted Martin's decision to give the public only five business days' notice before the hearing.

Senior Democratic member of the Commerce Committee Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said there was no rule put out for people to specifically comment on.

"Only in November was there a rule put out," Dorgan said, adding that a rush to a December vote "makes no sense at all."

Both Adelstein and Copps have said that recent media consolidation has resulted in increasing homogenization of entertainment and information, and the exclusion of women and minorities from the airwaves. They both cite a public opinion poll conducted at the beginning of November in which over 70 percent of respondents said that media consolidation has gone too far.

Another Democratic member of the Senate committee John Rockefeller of West Virginia said the FCC "appears to be more concerned about making sure the policies they advocate serve the needs of the companies they regulate and their bottom lines rather than the public interest."

This was the FCC's first appearance before the recently elected Democratic Congress. It is expected that the rule change is likely to pass with the support of Martin and his two Republican colleagues on the Commission, despite the disapproval of the Commission's two Democratic members.