Continuing to allow fewer and fewer media conglomerates to own more and more radio and television stations makes corporate profits a higher priority than American democracy, speakers told a Federal Communications Commission field hearing Dec. 9.

An overflow crowd of more than 550 people showed up at Hamline University. More than 100 citizens testified.

Their testimony ? often passionate, sometimes nervous, sometimes funny ? consistently asked the FCC to ban further media consolidation. Some even advocated breaking up existing media empires. In statements that continued well past midnight, citizens urged holding TV and radio stations more accountable by requiring programming that serves the public interest rather than the bottom line.

One quoted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black?s statement that truly free speech ?rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public.?

The growing corporate control of the nation?s media, on the other hand, denies Americans vital information, promotes consumerism more than citizenship, and results in homogenized programming, speakers said.

The wrong messages
Despite the fact that the airwaves legally belong to the public, one speaker noted: ?They tell us what they want us to see, not what we need to know.?

?We know more about vote fraud in Ukraine than about vote fraud in the U.S.,? said another.

?We?re becoming unquestioning consumers ready to buy whatever they?re trying to sell us,? said yet another.

The litany continued:

?Journalism is concerned with sound bites, not sound truth.?

?It is their duty to inform us, not to patronize us.?

?They control the airwaves that we own.?

It wasn?t just corporate giants such as Clear Channel, Sinclair Broadcasting, Disney/ABC, News Corp./Fox or General Electric/NBC that endured criticism. Opponents of Minnesota Public Radio?s purchase of classical music station WCAL in Northfield were a vocal segment of the audience and repeatedly generated the loudest and most sustained applause.

The discussion takes on additional importance because all radio licenses in Minnesota come up for renewal on April 1, 2005, and all TV licenses come up for renewal a year later. Licenses used to come up for renewal every 3 years, but now it?s every 8 years.

Commissioners seek support
Commissioners Jonathan S. Adelstein and Michael J. Copps set up the hearing, one of more than a dozen they are holding across the country to generate grassroots opposition to FCC rules that would allow the same media conglomerates to own even more broadcast stations and newspapers.

This past June, a federal court overturned the FCC?s latest attempt, a plan Adelstein called ?the most sweeping and destructive rules in the history of American broadcasting.? However he expects chairman Michael Powell and the FCC?s Republican majority to try again in 2005. ?The court ruling gives us a new chance to reclaim our airwaves,? Adelstein said.

He clearly shared the viewpoint of most who testified. Noting, for instance, that there are 14 times more infomercials than public affairs programming, he said, ?We may have tight abs, but we?re getting a flabby democracy.?

Copps, Adelstein?s partner in dissent, was unable to attend because of back surgery, but sent a staff member to represent him.

Labor speakers at the FCC forum included (clockwise from top left) State Retirees Council President Dan Mikel, AFTRA Twin Cities Executive Director Colleen Aho, Union Advocate Editor Michael Kuchta and Labor Education Service Director Howard Kling. Workday Minnesota photos

Workers also shoved aside
Union representatives were among those testifying. Diane O?Brien, communications director for the Minnesota AFL-CIO, noted how media routinely cover the stock market and other business news, but typically ignore union members, even though they make up almost 20 percent of the state?s workforce.

Howard Kling, director of the Labor Education Service at the University of Minnesota, highlighted the virtual media blackout of 2003?s mobilization in Miami against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. A major American city essentially was under martial law, and the rules of the economy that could govern us all were being decided, but media preferred to cover the latest Michael Jackson incident instead, he said.

Michael Kuchta, editor of the St. Paul Union Advocate newspaper, cited a similar blackout on coverage of the Bush administration?s changes in overtime pay rules. Over 18 months, Twin Cities television stations ran only two stories total on the issue, a lack of coverage that he called a violation of the public interest.

Colleen Aho, executive director of the Twin Cities Local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, spoke on one of the hearing?s two official panels. She cited surveys of her members, who as broadcast professionals have endured takeovers, cuts in local staffing, increased focus on the bottom line, less emphasis on coverage of complex issues, and more emphasis on crime, scandal and entertainment.

She criticized the loss of local content, noting how conglomerates such as Clear Channel and Sinclair now use techniques known as ?voice tracking? and ?central casting? to eliminate local announcers and news crews.

Local owner defends himself
Although the crowd was overwhelmingly opposed to current trends in media, a few panelists were not afraid to take controversial positions.

Robert W. Hubbard, president of Hubbard Television, said that as the only locally owned television stations in the Twin Cities, Hubbard?s Channels 5 and 45 are ?the little guys? competing against outside chains.

He said his stations strive to ?operate in the public good? and even offer free time to political candidates ? an offer that some actually refuse. But he disagreed with the concept of ?the public?s airwaves,? saying his family, like other broadcasters, at times ?risked everything? to create stations. ?We?re a business,? he said, ?and coverage costs money.?

Ken Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, argued that too much analysis of the impact of media consolidation is based on perception, not hard statistical evidence. Recent analysis of local news coverage in major cities indeed shows a lack of in-depth election coverage, he said. Other analysis, he said, suggests that negative political advertising not only is more informative than much local news coverage, but also more likely to engage citizens.

Citizens themselves had different ideas of how they?d like to be engaged.

Criticism and suggestions
They accused the FCC of abandoning its regulatory role and becoming ?a rubber stamp for whatever corporations want.? The public should have more options than simply turning off the TV or radio, others said.

Several accused corporate media of filtering out minority opinions and local communities, of supporting ?hate radio,? and of locking local musicians out of airplay.

Speakers encouraged requiring more fact-checking and a return of the ?fairness doctrine,? reducing the number of frequencies reserved for commercial stations, expanding frequencies for publicly supported stations, authorizing low-power FM stations, and supporting expanded public access on cable systems.

Dan Mikel, president of the Minnesota State Retiree Council, said local-access cable programming has its limits. His organization is able to produce and telecast a cable program, ?Minnesota's Voices of Experience,? he said, but many people aren't able to view the shows because they can't afford cable service.

Workday Minnesota editor Barb Kucera contributed to this article.

For more information
Taped coverage of the hearing is scheduled to air locally on SPNN (St. Paul Neighborhood Network) and statewide on TPT Channel 17. Check local listings.
Former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson has a website that features a wealth of background information on the FCC and its decisions, www.nicholasjohnson.org
See also the websites for the Center for Digital Democracy, www.democraticmedia.org, and freepress, www.freepress.net