Abstract

A No to Media Monopoly

Media monopolists were dealt a rare setback when the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit blocked implementation of the 2003 decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to loosen media-ownership rules at the local and national levels. It was not supposed to be this way with a White House and Congress controlled by Republicans, who are major recipients of campaign contributions from big-media interests. But two years of organizing by consumer, church and labor groups opposed to the rule changes and smart legal strategies by the Prometheus Radio Project--which sued the FCC--and the Media Access Project have blocked moves that, among other things, would have allowed one company to own the daily newspaper, up to three television stations, up to eight radio stations and other media all in the same market. For a real reversal of course to occur, however, FCC commissioner Michael Copps and the five-member commission's other dissident, Jonathan Adelstein, need an ally who can tip the balance in a public-interest direction. The real leadership could come from Congress, where a growing number of members, led by North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan and House members such as New York's Maurice Hinchey and Vermont's Bernie Sanders, are working to turn the bipartisan coalition that opposed the FCC rule changes into a legislative force that will restore public-interest protections and ownership caps undermined or eliminated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and other Congressional and FCC misdeeds.