News

[Open Letter Submitted to Members of Senate Commerce Committee from Free Press and Consumer Federation of America]

Dear Senator,

Dearborn, MI – Over 300 citizens joined Federal Communications Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps at last night’s Town Meeting on the Future of Media at the Ford Center of the Performing Arts in Dearborn.

Washington – Over 500 people waited in long lines for an opportunity to voice their opposition to government policies favoring big media corporations Wednesday night. The Monterey Herald, under the headline “Commissioners get an earful from public,” wrote, “It was a bad night for Big Media …

Washington – Federal Communications Commissioner Chairman Michael Powell says a “scheduling conflict” will prevent him from attending today’s official FCC Localism hearing in Monterey, California. Powell himself called for the hearing – one of six nationwide – after millions of Americans decried last year’s attempt to gut media ownership rules.

(Washington) - Calling it “an historic victory toward protecting diverse, independent and local media,” Free Press today applauded the decision by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s dramatic loosening of media ownership rules. The court’s ruling in the case, Prometheus Radio Project v.

Washington, DC – National and local advocates today called on California citizens to make their voices heard on behalf of diversity and local control in broadcasting at a public hearing scheduled by the Federal Communications Commission in Monterey. The FCC announced today that the hearing will be held on July 21 at the Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza.

The coalition to Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children (SCEC) and the media reform organization Free Press today launched a national public outreach campaign to build support for Senator Harkin’s [D-IA] Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention legislation.

Washington – Federal Communications Commissioner Chairman Michael Powell announced today that he will not attend the official FCC hearing scheduled for tomorrow, May 26th, in Rapid City, South Dakota. Powell called for this hearing as part of a series of nationwide public hearings after millions of Americans decried last year’s gutting of media ownership rules.

Washington — After learning that the Sinclair Broadcast Corporation has ordered its eight ABC affiliates to pull the Friday, April 30th episode of Nightline - which will air the names and photos of U.S. military personnel who have given their lives in Iraq - Free Press, a national media reform organization, has released a letter sent to David Smith, Chairman of the Sinclair Corporation.

Washington, DC – As top officials from the Federal Communications Commission prepared to meet with the nation’s broadcasters in Las Vegas, a coalition of media activists, grassroots groups and public interest groups urged the FCC to provide clearly defined public interest obligations for licensees of the publicly owned airwaves.