Last night, I attended the FCC hearing on media ownership and diversity at the Rainbow PUSH headquarters in Chicago to give testimony on behalf of Common Cause.

Overall the industry presence there last night was virtually non-existent, at least for the first four hours, after which I left. After the FCC chair and commissioners spoke - 4 of them did - a panel of 14 was allowed 5 minutes of testimony each. The IL Association of Broadcasters had three there, all of them pretty lost in an overwhelming tide of concerns and passion. What struck me is the difference between many broadcasters and the rest of us as to what constitutes public/community involvement/ interest.

For example - promoting the local Lions Club pancake breakfast is wonderful - yet fundamentally different than airing/promoting/covering/initiating regular forums to discuss a broad range of community concerns such as zoning, school funding, long-term transportation planning, or programming featuring a variety of views on what is happening in local government and investing resources in serious investigative journalism.

Hundreds of average citizens who share our concerns about media ownership and diversity gave their testimony last night. Hopefully the FCC listens.

--Todd Dietterle is chair of Common Cause Illinois.

This Thursday, September 20th, the FCC will hold an official hearing on the issue of media ownership in Chicago. It will take place at Operation PUSH National Headquarters at 930 East 50th Street (on the corner of South Drexel Blvd.) in Chicago.

You can read more about why we are so concerned with media consolidation and localism by going to http://www.commoncause.org/MediaAndDemocracy.

People who live in greater "Chicagoland" are encouraged to go to this hearing because it's a rare opportunity to have the FCC hear your concerns directly. But, due to the actions of the broadcasters, if you want to testify, should should go as early as you can. The sign-up period will begin at 3:00, but often, the broadcasters send paid staff to wait in line as early as noon.

The FCC is coming to Chicago to hear what the PUBLIC thinks about media ownership, not what the media think. They already know what the media think. So, it's really rude for the media to try to dominate the hearing and prevent regular people from having their voices heard. Most people have to stay at work until 5:00 or so, but the media pay their staff to go sign up early.

This just reinforces why we need alternatives to the mainstream media. Media is the way we get our information to make informed decisions in our democracy. We need to ensure the internet remains neutral so we can access many sources of information easily. We need to retain and expand access to community media like Public Access TV and Low Power FM stations.

And of course, we need to ensure that the media do not become yet further consolidated into the hands of a few corporations that can control the majority of what we see and hear.

A healthy, diverse independent media is essential to our democracy functioning properly. Let's do what we can to make that a reality.

Historically, when you think of Chicago politics, you think of the quintessential political machine.  Chicago party politics have been criticized for decades over this, and now finally they've been dealt a legal blow.  Robert Sorich, the former patronage chief for Mayor Richard Daley (D), has been convicted of rewarding campaign workers with jobs over more qualified applicants.

Where else would public officials try to play off blatant political favoritism as "business as usual"?  Yeesh.

What exactly this means for Mayor Daley is still in question, but one can hardly say it looks good.  Whether or not the mayor himself becomes involved in the scandal, his administration has been trampled by US Attorneys looking to teach these guys a new way of business as usual.