Hundreds of Mainers at
the FCC hearing in Portland
Last night, hundreds of Mainers and a few folks from other New England states came to Portland High School for the opportunity to speak their minds about how well (or not) the broadcast media is serving their communities.
Four of the five FCC Commissioners were in attendance and patiently listened through the testimony of about two dozen panelists and scores more individuals testifying from the audience. Everyone who came and stayed was given their opportunity to speak on the public record.
However, many of the public testifiers had their voices squashed thanks again to the broadcasters.
While the average citizen has a job that goes until 5:00 and can't take off work early to go sign up for a public hearing, the broadcasters sent paid staff at around 1:30 to go stand in line to sign up at 3:00. They brought in about 40 people from the TV and radio stations, and a few folks from the big, safe non-profits (like the Red Cross, cancer centers, etc) who then were able to dominate the early part of the public testimony.
While the first eight or so of the testifiers were members of the public who had concerns about how well the media is serving the community, the next 30-40 were the broadcasters patting themselves on the back saying they are doing a great job serving the community. However, there was nobody from the general community who shared their perspective.
Commissioner Adelstein said it clearly at the end of the night that there were two distinct groups - those who think the broadcasters are doing a great job, and those who don't, the former was made up of the broadcasters themselves and those who receive their largess, and the latter made up of everyone else.
The Commissioners not only saw through the charade, but they were clearly irritated by it. They commented at the end that the broadcasters did not answer the questions they were asked, and they made it more difficult for the general public to have their voices heard.
Indeed, dozens of people, some of whom traveled hours to testify at the hearing, left before their names were called. It is quite difficult for most individual citizens to sit in an auditorium until 11:00 PM when they have to go to work the next day, or have children they need to take care of, or in some cases go to their second job.
This just goes to show how out of touch the broadcasters really are. If they cared about community voices, they would have given the opportunity for the community to have a voice. They knew full well that most testifiers couldn't get there early to sign up, and that if they sent paid staff to sign up, they would be able to limit the criticism that the FCC came to hear.
So for all the people that went home early or couldn't get to the hearing in the first place, I encourage all of you to write to the local papers to voice your opinion. Use our website to send your testimony to the FCC (http://www.commoncause.org/nomoreconsolidation). And become the media yourself. Get involved with our local community TV and radio stations.
Don't let the broadcasters steal your voice again.
