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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322  FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT: 
 August  20,  2003  Jordan  Goldstein:  (202)  418-  2000 
 COPPS  CRITICIZES  WILLINGNESS  TO  LET  MEDIA  CONSOLIDATION  CONTINUE 
 Washington,  DC    Commissioner  Michael  J.  Copps  reacted  to  Chairman  Powells  announcements  today  refusing  to  stay  the  recent  decision  to  weaken  its  media  concentration 
 protections  and  substituting  for  such  action  a  task  force  to  study  localism  in  the  media. 
 Copps  stated:  This  proposal  is  a  day  late  and  a  dollar  short.  It  highlights  the  failures  of  the  recent  decision  to  dismantle  ownership  protections.  To  say  that  protecting  localism  was  not 
 germane  to  that  decision  boggles  the  mind.  The  ownership  protections,  as  well  as  the  other  public  interest  protections  that  the  Commission  has  dismantled  over  the  past  years,  are  all 
 designed  to  promote  localism,  diversity  and  competition.  We  should  have  heeded  the  calls  from  over  2  million  Americans  and  so  many  Members  of  Congress  expressing  concern  about  the 
 impact  of  media  concentration  on  localism  and  diversity  before  we  rushed  to  a  vote.  We  should  have  vetted  these  issues  before  we  voted.  Instead,  we  voted;  now  we  are  going  to  vet.  This  is  a 
 policy  of  ready,  fire,  aim!   
 We  now  hear  that  there  may  be  localism  issues  after  all.  But  whats  going  to  happen  while  we  study  localism  over  the  next  year?  The  answer  is:  deals,  deals  and  more  deals.  The 
 answer  is  more  standardized  and  homogenized  programming.  The  answer  is  more  indecency  on  the  peoples  airwaves.  The  answer  is  less  diversity  of  viewpoint  and  less  coverage  of  local 
 issues.  By  refusing  to  stay  our  rules,  we  guarantee  a  rash  of  mergers,  acquisitions  and  swaps  that  cannot  be  undone  because  the  genie  will  be  out  of  the  bottle  long  before  this  new  task  force 
 reports.  While  we  study,  Big  Media  conglomerates  will  gobble  up  still  more  local  stations  and  licenses  will  be  renewed  without  examining  how  stations  are  serving  their  local  communities. 
 While  promoting  low-  power  radio  stations  is  a  welcome  step  and  one  that  I  support,  the  real  news  is  that  the  Big  Media  Gold-  Rush  is  still  on. 


 You  cannot  use  a  blanket  of  study  to  quell  the  fire  of  public  outrage  about  increasing  control  of  the  publics  airwaves  by  fewer  and  fewer  conglomerates.  I  dont  believe  this 
 diversionary  tactic  will  divert  either  the  American  people  or  their  representatives  in  Congress.  What  if  we  complete  these  studies  and  find  out  that  localism  is  not  served  by  consolidation?  Itll 
 be  too  late.  Localism  is  a  serious,  serious  issue  that  I  looked  at  in  hearings  around  the  country.  If  the  majority  here  at  the  Commission  now  agrees  this  is  a  serious  issue,  why  not  put  the  new 
 rules  on  ice  while  we  do  this  study?  -  FCC  - 
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