**REMARKS OF FCC COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS**

**NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIA REFORM**

**MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA**

**JUNE 7, 2008**

Thank you. And thank you Free Press for showing America what an
Honest-to-God grassroots citizens' conference looks like. You guys are
democracy at its best!

It's been quite the year, hasn't it? Pentagon propaganda campaigns.
NARAL text messages blocked. Pearl Jam censored. Cable giants using
reset packets to "manage" Bit Torrent. The Internet racing down the same
road to consolidated control as radio and TV. Sam Zell gobbling up
Tribune. The FCC refusing even to ***look*** at the legality of Rupert
Murdoch adding the *Wall Street Journal* to his media empire, while
handing out permission slips to consolidate like they were candy on
Halloween. Isn't it time for a change?

Here's the good news. The winds of change are blowing across America.
Reform is coming to Washington, DC, and my goal is to make media reform
one of the first out of the gate. Sure, comprehensive media reform will
take some time. There's a lot of damage to undo. But I say we do
something meaningful and achievable right off the bat. I call it a "Down
Payment on Media Democracy."

My Down Payment has two parts. One is better TV and radio. "Public
airwaves" has been an oxymoron for too long. These ***are*** the
people's airwaves. And the American people make a bargain. Broadcasters
get to use the public airwaves---worth billions---for free. In return,
we, the people get programming aimed a little higher than the bottom
line. Or at least that's what we're ***supposed*** to get.

Once upon a time the FCC actually enforced this bargain. We looked at a
station's performance every three years and then decided whether to
renew its license. We had real public interest guidelines. That's all
gone. Now we renew licenses every ***eight*** years, and the only thing
we look for is where to put the rubber stamp.

It is time to put a cop back on the beat. Broadcasters need to think
twice before running one more infomercial on Sunday morning and bumping
local public affairs. Don't get me wrong---a lot of broadcasters want to
do the right thing. But we make their jobs harder, not easier, when we
let the bad apples off the hook. I am here to say, with you: No more
free rides!

The Down Payment on Media Democracy will provide meaningful review every
three years, with clear guidelines for how broadcasters must serve their
local communities. And the Down Payment will put stations that ignore
the public interest on probation. I'll tell you this: a station on
probation will get serious about serving the public interest real fast!
But if it doesn't, then it'll be "good-bye license." We'll give it to
someone who has a personal interest in the public interest.

The other pillar of the Down Payment on Media Democracy is Internet
Freedom. If you want to blog about local politics, should you really
have to pay some huge gate-keeper for every reader you get? Should
anyone be telling you what you can read and see and hear on the
Internet? Which applications you can run? Which devices you can use? The
Down Payment is a clear, enforceable principle of non-discrimination at
the FCC. AT&T agreed to this principle when it bought BellSouth---and
AT&T doesn't seem any worse for wear. But that commitment expires at the
end of the year. It's time that we had a net neutrality principle that
applies to ***all*** gatekeepers, ***all*** the time. ***Real*** network
neutrality.

That's a heavy lift against powerful interests, it's true. But that
never deterred us before. It didn't deter us when Michael Powell tried
to decimate our media ownership rules a few years ago. Together we put
the kibosh on that. It was your energy that kept hope alive when
insiders told us we were wasting our time trying to make net neutrality
an issue. It is your tireless work that has dragged these crucial
debates from behind closed industry doors into the sunshine of national
debate. And it is your support---your dedication to our democracy---that
gets me out of bed each day and inspires me to fight for the public
interest.

On a night like tonight---with all the energy in this room---almost
anything seems possible, doesn't it? To tell you the truth, I feel like
that a lot these days. I ***know*** we can get this done. We can climb
into the bright uplands of real democracy. Because as we change media,
we change ***everything***. We empower 300 million Americans to deal
with all those issues that Big Media has dumbed-down or just plain
ignored at terrible cost to our democracy. There is no real democracy
without media democracy.

So tonight, moving forward in hope, let us move forward in mutual pledge
to get that Down Payment and then push on for the final installment.
Commissioner Adelstein and I will be doing everything we can Byron
Dorgan and Mike Doyle will be doing everything they can. But what really
makes it happen is you. All of you here tonight. Your friends. Your
neighbors. That third-grade classmate you run into at the supermarket.
The candidates you meet---and you should be going out of your way to
meet candidates in these critical months. Ask all these people to
support the Down Payment on Media Democracy.

"Tell it," as Bill Moyers challenged us so eloquently, so movingly, this
morning. Tell it everywhere you go. ***That's*** the road for us to
travel. ***That's*** the road to victory. And when we get it---and get
it we will---we will trace our victory right back here to Minneapolis on
this glorious night!

So let me ask you: Can we do this?

Yes, we can!