Last-Ditch Effort to Lift Media Ownership Rules: Hearing Held on Short Notice, Over Protest of Two Commissioners.
(Berkeley, CA – November 6, 2007) The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled its final public hearing on media ownership rules for Friday, November 9th. The hearing will clear the way for the FCC to make dramatic increases in the amount of broadcast and print media one company can own. Most notably, the Commission's Republican majority is expected to lift rules on newspaper and television station cross-ownership, setting the stage for a new wave of mergers and corporate media consolidation.
The hearing has been called on five business days' notice, prompting a sharp critique from the Commission's Democratic minority, who wrote: "Clearly, the rush is on to push media consolidation to a quick and ill-considered vote. It shows there is a preordained outcome."
But the hearing will also take place in Seattle, Washington—a stronghold of the media democracy movement. Community members and independent media advocates from all sides of the political spectrum will protest in the streets and flood the hearing.
KPFA, with help from Pacifica affiliate KBCS in Seattle, is sending in a team to broadcast the hearing live, in its entirety, and distribute it to Pacifica's 100+ affiliate radio stations. Veteran Pacifica broadcaster and Polk Award winner Larry Bensky will anchor from Seattle's Great Hall. The coverage airs on KPFA from 3:PM PDT to 11:PM PDT on 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, and will stream via kpfa.org.
"The FCC's rule changes could drastically reduce the diversity of perspectives available in American media. By giving the public only five days' notice to prepare for this hearing, the FCC appears to be trying to conduct its business under cover of darkness," says KPFA Interim General Manager Lemlem Rijio. "KPFA's job is to bring in the floodlights."
Founded in 1949,
KPFA is the United States' first listener-sponsored radio station and the flagship station in the Pacifica Radio Network. Broadcasting on 94.1 FM in Berkeley, CA, and 88.1 FM on KFCF in Fresno, KPFA's signal reaches one third of the state of California. KPFA's website, kpfa.org, serves thousands of listeners all over the world. KPFA's innovative news, arts, public affairs, and music programs have won numerous awards and have helped define radio in America.
