Big Media Meets Its Match

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Others are wary of expecting too much from a change in administration. The industry-friendly 1996 Telecommunications Act, which Chester regards as a 'giveaway' to the media lobby, passed under the Clinton administration, and on some up-and-coming media issues, such as content regulation, it's not altogether clear what the 'conservative' and 'liberal' positions are.

'There are some Democrats who would like to see the same limitations or public requirements placed on Internet programming as there are on broadcast,' says Crawford. 'So either the Democrats or the Republicans may decide we need regulation to affect something like spam or pornography. The content battles are up for grabs.'

It's 11 p.m., the scheduled end time of the FCC hearing in Tampa, and people are still stepping up to the microphones. The moderator cuts statement times to 90 seconds in an attempt to accommodate more speakers. Everyone's a bit frazzled by now, and a fair share of statements descend into incoherence or animosity.

One man declares his presidential candidacy and describes an utterly incomprehensible platform.

'You're not doing your job. You've sold out. You've sold your souls,' another tells the commissioners, who betray no reaction to the tongue-lashing.

Still, there are flashes of insight.

'Rarely is bigger better,' says a soft-spoken man who used to work at a family radio station partly owned by his father. 'Now I feel like I have to convince you that you're on our side.'

'The decisions you make affect perceptions of the United States,' says a military veteran, a young woman who urges the commissioners to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine (abolished by the FCC in 1987) to make sure that political candidates on both sides of the fence get equal amounts of free airtime during an election cycle.

By 11:30, everyone who signed up has spoken. The audience files out into the still night and disperses in cars and cabs. After most of them have disappeared, a man in a ball cap wanders in front of the Performing Arts Center, clutching a sheet of paper that contains two signatures.

'Do you think the commissioners have all left? I'm trying to get their autographs,' he says dejectedly as he scans the fast-emptying parking lot. 'I've got Copps and Adelstein, but I was hoping to get all five.'

A Media Reformer's Handbook

These books can help you understand current media and telecommunications issues:

• The Federal Communications Commission: Front Line in the Culture and Regulation Wars (Greenwood, 2006): a textbook-style introduction to the FCC
• The Future of Media: Resistance and Reform in the 21st Century (Seven Stories, 2005): a collection of incisive commentaries by media reform activists
• Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times (New Press, 1999): media critic and scholar Robert McChesney describes how concentrated corporate control of the media is bad for the United States
• Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media (Metropolitan, 2007): social scientist Eric Klinenberg focuses on broadcasting consolidation
• Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy (New Press, 2007): media reform activist Jeff Chester writes about the battle for control of the Internet

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