Focus of Media Debate Turns to Congress
WASHINGTON — For months, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps waged a lonely campaign to keep the nation's biggest media companies from getting even bigger.
Short on funds, the Democrat crisscrossed the country, often unaccompanied by colleagues or staff, and begged universities to give him facilities to hold town meetings to debate media ownership policy. The FCC's Republican chairman, Michael K. Powell, had stopped participating in the events, dismissing them as a "19th century whistle-stop tour." Publicity remained scant.
Over time, however, Copps' message began to resonate -- and with folks far beyond the usual consumer advocates who had long warned of the dangers of media consolidation.
Copps' crusade, for instance, caught the ear of the National Rifle Assn. and the Parents Television Council, a group fighting "to restore family-friendly" programming. It also helped galvanize small, independent TV broadcasters, which feared they might buckle if much larger competitors were free to purchase even more stations.
By the fourth town hall meeting on March 31 -- a forum in Durham, N.C., attended by country singer Tift Merritt, Rep. David E. Price (D-N.C.), Rep. Richard M. Burr (R-N.C.) and FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein -- Copps had forged an unlikely liberal-conservative coalition.
Still, there was a problem: Powell had already put together the votes to pass his agenda for relaxing media ownership rules. So, the strange-bedfellows alliance turned away from the agency and focused its attention elsewhere: If they couldn't stop the deregulation train from leaving the FCC, they might be able to derail it farther down the tracks, in the halls of Congress.
Last week, their strategy paid off.
The House passed a measure that would keep TV broadcasters from owning stations that reached more than 35% of the nation, rolling back the new 45% cap just approved by the FCC. The matter is set to be taken up next on the floor of the Senate, where momentum also is building to dismantle at least some of the FCC's handiwork.
Of course, it remains far from certain whether the FCC's June 2 relaxation of long-standing media ownership rules will ultimately be undone -- especially given strong support for the commission from a deregulation-minded White House. Administration officials have recommended that President Bush veto any bill that reverses the FCC's rule-loosening plans.
