Bob Edwards

A former National Public Radio talk show host and a prominent civil rights leader will speak before the Federal Communications Commission at a hearing on local broadcasting. The event is scheduled for this Wednesday, October 31st.

In addition to XM Satellite radio's Bob Edwards and the Reverend Jesse Jackson senior, Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women will comment at the hearing, as will broadcasting historian Christopher Sterling, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University.

The hearing's purpose, according to the FCC announcement, is "to gather information from consumers, industry, civic organizations, and others on broadcasters’ service to their local communities. Along with competition and diversity, promoting localism is a key goal of the Commission’s media ownership rules."

But the FCC's announcement of the localism hearing just five business days in advance brought protests from the Commission's two Democrats: Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein.

"Is the Commission serious about allowing the public to participate in the agency’s decisionmaking?" they asked in a public statement issued on October 24th. "Or is the goal to be able to claim that hearings have been held, even if the public has not had a chance to fully participate?"

Other panelists at the hearing will include Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America, and representatives from the National Association of Broadcasters and Capital Broadcasting.

Free Press has scheduled a rally to coincide with the open comment portion of the gathering. The demonstration will take place outside the FCC's headquarters at 9 am.

Still up in the air is where and when the FCC will hold its last of six hearings on its media ownership rules. News reports released earlier this month suggested that FCC Chair Kevin Martin planned to hold the hearing in Seattle, Washington on November 2nd. But since then United States Senators Byron Dorgan (D) of North Dakota and Trent Lott (R) Mississippi have warned Martin to slow down on the FCC's media ownership proceeding.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has also entered into the controversy, sending a public letter to Martin calling his reported efforts to conclude the proceeding by the end of this year "irresponsible."

"I ask you to reconsider your proposed timeline, put out any specific change to the rules for public comment and review, move to establish an independent panel on minority and small business media ownership, and complete a proceeding on the responsibilities that broadcasters have to the communities in which they operate," Obama's October 22nd statement concluded.