Urban Unrest

20 July 2006 | Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

The Federal Communications Commission seeks your comments on radio, TV and newspaper media ownership.

The issue was raised in the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by the nonprofit Prometheus Radio against the FCC more than two years ago.

The court sided mainly with Prometheus, essentially sending the FCC’s planned ownership and cross-ownership rules back to it for revision.

The FCC must resolve the limits — adopted in the 2002 Biennial Review Order — this year.

Commissioner Michael Copps’ statement about it shows this isn’t just another routine ruling.

He said, in part ” … This innocuous-looking document initiates the single most important public policy debate that the FCC will tackle this year … It means that this commission has begun to decide on behalf of the American people the future of our media.”

He continued, ” … we have a solemn obligation to encourage public participation in the decision. It’s important because if we make the wrong decision, our communities and our country will suffer. This debate will have far-reaching implications for the credibility of information Americans get from the media — for the vitality of the civic dialogue that determines the direction of our democracy — and for whether TV and radio offer entertainment that is creative, uplifting and local or degrading, banal and homogenized.”

Keep watch on the FCC Web site (www.fcc.gov) for a hyperlink that it says it will post on the issue containing locations of six public hearings it plans around the nation, and how (and where) to properly file comments.

Source: GRC list

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