FCC Hearing 10.31.07
0001
 1                                           
 2                                           
 3                                           
 4                                           
 5                                           
 6                      FCC MEETING                 
 7                    PUBLIC HEARING              
 8                                           
 9                                           
10                    OCTOBER 31, 2007                   
11                                           
12                    WASHINGTON, D.C.                   
13                                           
14                                           
15                                           
16                                           
17                                           
18                                           
19                                           
20                                           
21                                           
22                                           
0002
 1                       ATTENDEES:                       
 2   Kevin Martin, FCC Commissioner                       
 3   Marlene Dortch                                       
 4   Michael J. Copps, Commissioner                       
 5   Jonathan S. Adelstein, Commissioner                  
 6   Deborah Taylor Tate, Commissioner                    
 7   Robert McDowell, Commissioner                        
 8   Monica Desai                                         
 9   Jeremy Kisell                                        
10   Louis Sigalos                                        
11   Marcellus Alexander                                  
12   Bob Edwards                                          
13   Lisa Fager Bediako                                   
14   Kim Grandy                                           
15   Jim Goodmon                                          
16   Wade Henderson                                       
17   Dan Isett                                            
18   Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.                           
19   Andrew Schwartzman                                   
20   Christopher Sterling                                 
21   Mark Cooper                                          
22                                                        
0003
 1                   PUBLIC SPEAKERS:                   
 2   Joe Torrez                                           
 3   George Tedesci                                       
 4   Mike Wassenaur                                       
 5   Carolyn Byerly                                       
 6   Kevin McCarron                                       
 7   James Coleman                                        
 8   Kate Blofson                                         
 9   Sarah Sieberberg                                     
10   Michael Shay                                         
11   Bruce Levinson                                       
12   Samantha Miller                                      
13   Carol Jenkins                                        
14   Liz Humes                                            
15   Susan Meehan                                         
16   Rosa Clemente                                        
Page 1
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
17   Nanz Riccard                                         
18   Christian Melendez                                   
19   Alex Allen                                           
20   Adam Lynn                                            
21   Michael Halperin                                     
22   Nickey Guerra                                        
0004
 1               PUBLIC SPEAKERS (contd.):                   
 2   Josh Silver                                          
 3   Wendy Thompson                                       
 4   Alexandra Russell                                    
 5   Garland Nixon                                        
 6   Patricia Omana                                       
 7   Lynn Erskine                                         
 8   Francwa Sims                                         
 9   Sondra Levin                                         
10   Shireen Mitchell                                     
11                                                        
12                                                        
13                                                        
14                                                        
15                                                        
16                                                        
17                                                        
18                                                        
19                                                        
20                                                        
21                                                        
22                                                        
0005
 1              P  R  O  C  E  E  D  I  N  G  S           
 2               KEVIN MARTIN:  Madam Secretary, if you   
 3   could announce then our next steps for today's       
 4   meeting.                                             
 5               MARLENE DORTCH:  Okay, this concludes    
 6   the agenda for our open meeting.  We will now begin  
 7   today's localism hearing.  Along with competition    
 8   and diversity, promoting localism is a key goal of   
 9   the Commission's media ownership rules.  The purpose 
10   of the hearing is to gather informing from           
11   consumers, industry, civic organizations and others  
12   on broadcasters role in their local communities and  
13   proposed changes to our rules.                       
14               KEVIN MARTIN:  This is the Federal       
15   Communications Commission's 6th public hearing on    
16   localism and I want to first take a moment to        
17   welcome everyone and thank you all for agreeing to   
18   participate and it is important, in this important   
19   meeting today.                                       
20               Before we begin with our panel           
21   presentations, I think all of the Commissioners want 
22   to do, have some opening statements, I assume is     
0006
 1   that correct?                                        
 2               MICHAEL COPPS:  I do.                    
 3               KEVIN MARTIN:  Why don't actually then   
 4   we go to the Board of Commissioner Council and Chief 
 5   to start out for us.                                 
 6               MICHAEL COPPS:  Thank you all for being  
 7   here this morning, you came on short notice, some    
 8   from afar, and had to prepare on the turn of a dime, 
 9   but your presence attests to your dedication and     
10   public spiritedness and we are grateful for that.    
Page 2
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
11               You're going to hear a lot of nice words 
12   today about localism, about how localism is one of   
13   the core values of broadcast regulation, about how   
14   from the earliest days of broadcasting we've         
15   required licensees to serve the needs and interests  
16   of their local communities, about how localism is    
17   good for viewers, good for business and good for the 
18   future of our democracy and it's all true.           
19               But my greatest fears is that all those  
20   nice words will float into the ether and we'll walk  
21   away and congratulate ourselves that we've struck a  
22   blow for localism, meanwhile consolidation continues 
0007
 1   to choke the life blood out of localism with its     
 2   outsourced news, homogenized playlists and distant   
 3   ownership and meanwhile consolidation denegrates     
 4   diversity, denies minorities and women and           
 5   diminishes our already distorted democratic          
 6   dialogue.  It seems to get worse with almost each    
 7   passing week.                                        
 8               I for one can wait no longer.  If we     
 9   truly believe in localism, if it's not just lip      
10   service, the time has come to do something about it. 
11               First, let's acknowledge that the loss   
12   of localism is not something that was inevitable.    
13   It was a conscious choice.  It was a conscious       
14   choice.                                              
15               Back in the 1980s we had a Chairman of   
16   the FCC who famously said that a television set was  
17   nothing but a toaster with pictures and that's how   
18   he and his accomplices set about to treat it, just   
19   another household appliance.                         
20               So they did away with the requirements   
21   that promoted localism, like talking to your         
22   community about the issues that concern the people   
0008
 1   who live there, like guidelines at license renewal   
 2   time that examined the station's commitment to local 
 3   programming and like a license renewal process that  
 4   took place every three years to ensure               
 5   accountability to the community rather than every    
 6   eight years to give convenience to the industry.     
 7               So now we have no more community         
 8   dialogue, no more real accountability, no process to 
 9   hold stations to their commitment to serve the       
10   people.  It's all gone, not by chance, but by        
11   design.                                              
12               Think about it, why on earth would some  
13   little commission think that it had to write         
14   (inaudible) mail to remove explicit performance      
15   requirements from broadcasters who are granted       
16   exclusive rights to use public property.             
17               Which brings me to the current           
18   proceeding.  This is the last official public        
19   hearing in connection with the localism notice of    
20   inquiry that was launched in 2004.  While I          
21   appreciate the Chairman's commitment to complete the 
22   localism proceeding before addressing the media      
0009
 1   ownership rules, the question remains what it means  
 2   to complete the proceeding.                          
 3               Let me be clear what I mean.  Completing 
 4   the proceeding means to me at a minimum issuing a    
Page 3
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 5   notice of proposed rule-making with clear            
 6   recommendations giving the public adequate time to   
 7   comment on the specific proposals to put localism    
 8   back into broadcasting and a timetable for final     
 9   Commission action.                                   
10               And let's be clear, this is not just     
11   Commissioner Mike Copps' view.  It's a bipartisan    
12   view from Congress.  Recently Democratic Senator     
13   Byron Doylgan and Republican Senator Trent Lott told 
14   us in no uncertain terms that given the importance   
15   of localism, a mere report is not enough.  They want 
16   recommendations and a formal notice of proposed      
17   rule-making with at least 90 days for public         
18   comment.  This must be done, they said, before       
19   moving forward with the ownership proceeding and     
20   that's a quote.                                      
21               We just received another bipartisan      
22   letter from Republican Senator Olympia Snow and      
0010
 1   Democratic Senator Bill Nelson calling on the FCC to 
 2   seriously address localism and pending diversity     
 3   recommendations prior to acting on media ownership.  
 4               These issues transcend party labels and  
 5   are in no way unique to red States or blue States.   
 6   They are grass-roots concerns.                       
 7               The best way to address these concerns   
 8   may be through an honest to goodness license renewal 
 9   process and a re-invigorated public interest         
10   standard.  The bottom line here is that the FCC just 
11   has to get out of the business of allowing medic     
12   environments to acquire new licenses or renew        
13   existing ones without requiring that every licensee  
14   will actually use the public airwaves to serve the   
15   public interest.                                     
16               We will soon know it appears whether the 
17   Commission's rhetoric about localism is the real     
18   thing or whether this proceeding is being truncated  
19   because the Commission needs to place a checkmark in 
20   the localism box that stands in the way of loosening 
21   such ownership rules as newspaper broadcasts         
22   cross-ownership that powerful industry players are   
0011
 1   pushing like mad.                                    
 2               But localism must never be seen as a     
 3   means to an end.  It's an end in itself.  It's at    
 4   the heart of what the public interest is all about.  
 5   All deliberate speed in getting some localism back,  
 6   by all means, a rush to judgment to clear the way    
 7   for more big media mergers, no way.                  
 8               Right now there are too many Americans   
 9   openly wondering whether this is all a great big     
10   show.  Pretty window-dressing to distract the public 
11   so the FCC and big media can cut their deal in       
12   peace.                                               
13               No one on this Commission, even if some  
14   feel differently from me about the pros and cons of  
15   changing the ownership rules should want to          
16   perpetuate those kinds of public misgivings about    
17   the FCC.  We need a process that allays fears rather 
18   than one that creates fears.                         
19               I've received an E-mail yesterday from a 
20   gentleman who works at a small market radio station  
21   in the Midwest.  In the E-mail he talks about the    
Page 4
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
22   difference between a truly local station and the     
0012
 1   stations owned by big corporations in dealing with   
 2   heavy rain storms that were hitting the area.        
 3               Here's what he wrote about the big       
 4   stations, quote, "These stations have their          
 5   programming piped in from another community.         
 6   They've also signed up for a service for their       
 7   weather reporting which is recorded and sent from    
 8   1,000 miles away.  There were flood warnings and     
 9   flash flood warnings, yet there was never mention of 
10   that severe weather during the peak of the storms.   
11   Nobody even works in those buildings.  They have an  
12   engineer come in to take meter readings and check on 
13   things a couple times per day.                       
14               "If this is the type of localism we      
15   ought to expect, then the public interest is not     
16   being served by these companies," he went on.        
17               "And finally, they can raise all the     
18   money they want to for local charities and air       
19   numerous public service announcements, but if the    
20   local citizens are not even warned about looming     
21   severe weather, what good is it," end quote.         
22               That's a good question and it goes       
0013
 1   beyond the weather forecast to whether we can have a 
 2   media environment in this country that reflects our  
 3   communities and diversity and creativity and that    
 4   nourishes the civic dialogue on which our future     
 5   depends.                                             
 6               Let's, for heaven's sake, treat this     
 7   issue with some sense of civic sobriety and          
 8   seriousness of purpose.                              
 9               It's in this vain that I look forward to 
10   hearing from all our panels and public today.        
11               Thank you again all for being here.      
12               KEVIN MARTIN:  Thank you.                
13               To Mr. Adelstein.                        
14               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  Thank you, this is  
15   the final hearing of the localism task force.  I'm   
16   very pleased that at the urging of key members of    
17   Congress, this otherwise dormant proceeding was      
18   revived and today we're here again listening to an   
19   expert set of panelists and the public.              
20               The important questions (inaudible) with 
21   the proceeding today are will we do anything         
22   productive with what we've learned.  We've been      
0014
 1   across the country.  Will it lead to real changes in 
 2   how we hold media outlets accountable to their local 
 3   communities.  (Inaudible) entire proceeding just a   
 4   chore to get done so that media giants can have      
 5   their way with even greater media consolidation.     
 6               The lack of adequate advanced public     
 7   notice of today's hearing raises real concerns about 
 8   how serious we are about public output.  Despite     
 9   unanimous approval weeks ago to get this done and do 
10   this today, it wasn't announced to the public until  
11   the last possible moment allowed by law, just five   
12   business days ago late at night.                     
13               Now despite this unnecessary hurdle, I'm 
14   pleased we've assembled such a great panel and an    
15   impressive panel of witnesses on such short notices. 
Page 5
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
16   I thank Chairman Martin for his cooperation in       
17   working with us to do this in such a short period of 
18   time and I thank all of our witnesses for going      
19   through all the hurdles that you had to jump to get  
20   here and to share with us your views on this         
21   critical issue.                                      
22               I am disappointed, though, that I        
0015
 1   haven't been permitted to meet with the FCC staff    
 2   that co-chaired the localism task force.  I made a   
 3   request for this last week and I just don't think    
 4   it's acceptable that Commission staff aren't         
 5   permitted to meet with every Commissioner.           
 6               I'd remind all my colleagues that the    
 7   staff works for the Commission, not just the         
 8   Chairman.  Any instruction to deny us meetings or    
 9   information is anathema to the spirit of the         
10   Commission in Federal law.                           
11               As we conclude this final public         
12   localism hearing, it's fair to ask what we have      
13   accomplished.  There are two basic issues at hand.   
14   What steps can we take to enhance the responsiveness 
15   of our media to our local communities and does media 
16   consolidation enhance or detract from service to     
17   local communities.                                   
18               When the localism task force was         
19   launched, we were promised rigorous studies and      
20   clear policy and legislative recommendations.  We've 
21   seen neither any studies nor any recommendations     
22   thus far.  After the expenditure of over 350,000     
0016
 1   dollars of taxpayer funds and many staff resources,  
 2   the task force owes us solid studies and solid       
 3   recommendations on which to base immediate action by 
 4   the Commission.                                      
 5               The only study that actually came out    
 6   was one that was leaked to Senator Boxer at a public 
 7   hearing.                                             
 8               Certainly before we address the media    
 9   ownership rules we need to implement concrete steps  
10   to enhance localism.  A number of members of         
11   Congress, as Commissioner Copps have pointed out,    
12   have appropriately asked that we do so and we should 
13   heed their good advice.                              
14               This doesn't mean we should trot out     
15   some half measures and say there you go, we're done. 
16   It means we need to put in place rules that improve  
17   accountability of broadcast media outlets to the     
18   communities to which they are licensed, which        
19   shouldn't simply provide a set of best practices for 
20   broadcasters.                                        
21               We shouldn't simply revise an            
22   out-of-date manual and instruct the public that it's 
0017
 1   their responsibility to get the most from their      
 2   local station, nor should we simply get a report     
 3   that sugar-coats the issues from the localism task   
 4   force, a task force that really has been             
 5   functionally abolished, maybe that's why I couldn't  
 6   get a meeting with them.                             
 7               We all know the issues.  We expect real  
 8   and concrete recommendations to form the basis for a 
 9   substantive Commission response to the many concerns 
Page 6
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
10   that were raised by an array of concerned citizens   
11   from all across this great country.  We also need to 
12   complete action on improving the number of women and 
13   people of color who own broadcast media outlets in   
14   this country.                                        
15               I propose the immediate creation of a    
16   task force, an independent panel that would help us  
17   to get an action agenda that we can act on quickly   
18   before this proceeding, before we finalize the media 
19   ownership rules.  The Reverend Jesse Jackson is here 
20   today and he's offered to serve on such a panel.  We 
21   just came from a meeting hosted at Rainbow PUSH in   
22   Chicago.  I'm glad we came out there and thank you   
0018
 1   for hosting us.                                      
 2               It's a city where people of color        
 3   represent two-thirds of the population, and yet they 
 4   own just 5 percent of the broadcast stations.  To    
 5   me -- today's media landscape does not reflect the   
 6   diversity of America.  We've got to carefully weigh  
 7   whether media ownership that doesn't reflect the     
 8   communities to whom they're licensed are truly       
 9   delivering local service that reflects the diversity 
10   of issues that face the entire community, including  
11   women, including people of color.                    
12               As far as I know, none of our studies    
13   address that fundamental localism question.  We      
14   can't proceed in good conscious until it is          
15   answered.                                            
16               It's also clear from our hearings that   
17   local issues that the electorate needs to know about 
18   aren't being covered in a way that prepares voters   
19   to make educated decisions.  The problem we hear     
20   from people as we go to these hearings across the    
21   country is that breaking news is being replaced with 
22   breaking gossip.  Community after community, we hear 
0019
 1   from citizens that serious coverage of local and     
 2   State Governments is diminished.  There's a virtual  
 3   black-out of coverage of State and local elections   
 4   and candidates.                                      
 5               And while news operations say they have  
 6   to slash resources in this difficult environment,    
 7   some are offering up to a million dollars to get an  
 8   interview with Paris Hilton.                         
 9               Real investigative journalism and file   
10   for reporting have given way to an if it bleeds, it  
11   leads mentality.                                     
12               Now there are a lot of localism options  
13   on the table.  They include clarifying our public    
14   interests obligations, strengthening our license     
15   renewal process, requiring ascertainment, enhancing  
16   public disclosure, broadcasters issues and program   
17   listings, (inaudible) locals and requirements on     
18   multi-cast stations and improving access to low      
19   powered and non-commercial station licenses.         
20               We need to approve real meaningful       
21   rules, not just another notice of inquiry or         
22   proposed rules before we move forward with media     
0020
 1   ownership.                                           
 2               With regard to the effect of media       
 3   consolidation on localism, the public has spoken.    
Page 7
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 4   The public comments we received at hearings across   
 5   the country were overwhelmingly negative on how      
 6   consolidation has detracted from the responsiveness  
 7   of local media outlets to local concerns.            
 8               We also heard eloquent arguments about   
 9   the potential benefits of consolidation, but these   
10   were all from invited witnesses who actually worked  
11   or owned media outlets, not from the public at       
12   large.                                               
13               And while I appreciate the arguments on  
14   both sides, the law requires us to serve the public  
15   interests, not the interests of the media giants     
16   that we oversee and the public is not interested in  
17   further media consolidation.                         
18               This was confirmed again yesterday in a  
19   polled Commission by the Media Democracy Coalition,  
20   just being released today, overwhelming majorities   
21   of Republicans and Democrats consider media          
22   consolidation a problem and in nearly equal          
0021
 1   proportions.                                         
 2               This confirms, once again, as reflected  
 3   on the bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill that this  
 4   is not a partisan issue.  Americans distrust big     
 5   media, whether those are coming from the right, from 
 6   the left and virtually everybody in between.         
 7   Distrusted media, like big Government, I think is    
 8   rooted in the American spirit.                       
 9               It's no surprise that by a margin of     
10   57 percent to 30 percent the public favors making it 
11   illegal to own a dominant newspaper and a TV station 
12   in the same city.  Again, the margins are about the  
13   same for liberals, moderates and conservatives.      
14   The poll also found that the public prefers local    
15   news sources, the very ones threatened by            
16   consolidation.  It also found the public is          
17   concerned that consolidation will produce even more  
18   bias into a media world they already consider too    
19   biased.                                              
20               Now I admit it's unusual to cite polling 
21   data in a Commission proceeding and I don't normally 
22   do it.  In this case, though, the law is simple and  
0022
 1   clear.  We are to promote the public interest.  What 
 2   the public thinks is, therefore, of great            
 3   consequence to fulfilling our statutory obligation.  
 4   It would be the height of arrogance for those of us  
 5   here inside the beltway in this building to assert   
 6   that somehow we know better what's good for the      
 7   public than they know for themselves.                
 8               If we ignore what we've heard across the 
 9   nation and what we're about to hear today, all of    
10   our hearings would have been a sham to provide cover 
11   for a pre-determined outcome.  We must listen to the 
12   public.  It's not just a moral obligation, it's the  
13   law.                                                 
14               So the Commission welcomes all of you    
15   here today and all of our guests who are going to    
16   speak.  I hope we won't just listen with an open     
17   mind, but we'll factor what you say into our         
18   actions.  Listening to you while commendable is the  
19   easy part.  It's actually taking what you say and    
20   acting on it that seems to be the most difficult     
Page 8
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
21   part.                                                
22               So thank you all for coming and joining  
0023
 1   us here today.                                       
 2               KEVIN MARTIN:  Thank you.                
 3               Commissioner Tate.                       
 4               DEBORAH TAYLOR TATE:  Thank you,         
 5   Mr. Chairman, I want to add my welcome to all of you 
 6   all who are here, our esteemed panelists and members 
 7   of the public who will be meeting.  The gentleman    
 8   from Virginia and I are new to the Commission, since 
 9   you all have been involved with this process and so  
10   we're really here to listen to you all today.        
11               This is, of course, the last of our six  
12   localism hearings and thank you all for all the time 
13   that you've taken to participate, to comment and to  
14   be here today.                                       
15               Since October of 2003, the FCC has held  
16   hearings all across America.  The process actually   
17   started years before I arrived at the FCC and has    
18   continued throughout my tenure from Monterey,        
19   California, to Portland, Maine, literally from sea   
20   to shining sea we've heard from hundreds, if not     
21   thousands, of American citizens on this important    
22   issue.                                               
0024
 1               And while the debate gets passionate,    
 2   often, I think that there's certainly something that 
 3   we all agree on and that is the importance of local  
 4   news and local information to citizens, to every one 
 5   of us as consumers in every corner of America.       
 6               It's the local news outlets that know    
 7   our communities best.  They provide the types of     
 8   information on which citizens can rely, local        
 9   weather and traffic, local high school football      
10   scores, community events, school programs, local     
11   political races and on and on.  There are also many  
12   times first responders in time of crisis, whether    
13   it's a crime or a weather disaster or public health  
14   emergency, local news outlets are the first to       
15   communicate often critical information to their      
16   citizens.                                            
17               Having grown up in a very small town, a  
18   small media market, I saw firsthand the importance   
19   of localism in a small market.  Listening to WGNS    
20   every morning on the way to school, I heard who,     
21   local owners, local news, local agricultural prices, 
22   local births and, sadly, local deaths and it's       
0025
 1   precisely what you hear today when you visit that    
 2   station.                                             
 3               Today's hearing will take a look back at 
 4   all the information that we have gleaned from our    
 5   hearings and is in the record and attempt to analyze 
 6   those findings.                                      
 7               I, like Commissioner Adelstein, hope     
 8   that we will consider our own minority and diversity 
 9   committee recommendations that they have made.  I    
10   thank them for their hard work over the past few     
11   years and I hope that we will consider those         
12   recommendations in the short-term.                   
13               I'm glad that we have taken such a       
14   thorough, such a long and measured approach to this  
Page 9
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
15   process because that is important to do.  But it is  
16   time for us to get down to work and I look forward   
17   to joining any colleagues in crafting rules that     
18   recognize the global nature of the world in which we 
19   live, while meeting our commitment to localism.      
20               Thank you, Mr. Chairman.                 
21               KEVIN MARTIN:  Thank you, Commissioner   
22   Tate.                                                
0026
 1               Commissioner McDowell.                   
 2               ROBERT McDOWELL:  Thank you,             
 3   Mr. Chairman.  In the observance of time, I want to  
 4   hear from ya'll, so I'll truncate my remarks and     
 5   just put the whole statement in the record, if       
 6   possible, but I do want to thank each and every one  
 7   of you for coming here to the Commission today.      
 8               This is an extremely important issue.    
 9   This is an extremely personal issue for me to have a 
10   localism hearing here in Washington, D.C., which is  
11   my home town media market.  This is where I was born 
12   and raised and actually the McDowell family has      
13   worked in the Washington media market.               
14               My mother, Martha Shay McDowell, worked  
15   for the Washington Post in the 1970s, a local        
16   newspaper some of you have probably heard of.  My    
17   father was a senior editor for National Geographic   
18   Magazine, an international publication, and I was an 
19   intern, an intern, no less, for WMAL and WTOP radio. 
20               And the moral of that story is be nice   
21   to your interns because some day they might grow up  
22   to regulate you.                                     
0027
 1               In any case, looking forward to all your 
 2   remarks and when we get to the public comment period 
 3   as well and without further ado, Mr. Chairman, on    
 4   with the show.                                       
 5               KEVIN MARTIN:  Thank you and thank you   
 6   all for participating in this important hearing.     
 7               All of ya'lls thoughts and advice are    
 8   going to be critical to us as we go forward.         
 9               Establishing and maintaining a system of 
10   local broadcasting that is responsive to the unique  
11   interests and needs of individual communities is an  
12   extremely important policy goal for the Commission.  
13   Indeed along with competition and diversity,         
14   localism was one of the three goals that underlies   
15   all of our media ownership rules.                    
16               The Commission is currently engaged in a 
17   review of these rules and the testimony we're going  
18   to hear today, along with that of all the previous   
19   localism hearings, is going to inform the            
20   Commission's decision-making not only in the         
21   localism proceeding, but also in the media ownership 
22   proceeding.                                          
0028
 1               With that, I'd like to take a moment to  
 2   review with you the work and the process the         
 3   Commission has done to date on these related         
 4   proceedings on media ownership and localism.         
 5               In 2003 when we last conducted a review  
 6   of the media ownership rules, many people expressed  
 7   concerns about the process and specifically people   
 8   complained that there weren't enough hearings, that  
Page 10
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 9   not enough studies were done and there wasn't enough 
10   opportunity for public comment and input.            
11               And when we began this process last      
12   year, the Commission, this process on ownership last 
13   year, the process on localism several years ago, the 
14   Commission committed to conducting this proceeding   
15   in a manner that was going to be open and            
16   transparent and that would allow for ample public    
17   participation.                                       
18               And I think that's what the Commission   
19   has done.  As a part of the current review of the    
20   media ownership rules, we've held five hearings      
21   around the country, costs more than 150,000 dollars, 
22   we've listened to and recorded thousands of public   
0029
 1   comment.  We've spent almost 700,000 dollars on      
 2   10 independent studies and we put all those studies  
 3   out for comment and made all of the underlying data  
 4   available to the public.                             
 5               Several times we've filed, we've allowed 
 6   for extensions of time to file comments in the       
 7   record and to date, we've received over 162,000      
 8   written comments in the proceeding.                  
 9               Similarly, I committed to completing the 
10   full inquiry on localism, something that was         
11   initiated but stopped under the previous Chairman.   
12               Now today we're holding the 6th planned  
13   hearing on the topic and all tolled the Commission   
14   has devoted more than 160,000 to the hearing from    
15   expert witnesses and members of the public on        
16   broadcast service to their local communities, we've  
17   spent another 350,000 dollars on gathering data that 
18   again will be used in localism and on the studies    
19   that were conducted on media ownership, along with   
20   the specific localism paper, study that was done by  
21   Simon Anderson at the University of Virginia on      
22   localism and welfare which we made available last    
0030
 1   December.                                            
 2               Now I know that localism is important    
 3   to, to many broadcasters who recognize their own     
 4   success depends on responding to the needs and       
 5   interests of their local community.  And most        
 6   broadcasters do a good job both airing programming   
 7   of unique interest to their local community, more    
 8   generally by contributing the sense of community in  
 9   their local areas.  But it has become apparent,      
10   however, that some broadcasters aren't doing all     
11   they can or all they should in serving their local   
12   communities.                                         
13               And, thus, I've already proposed the     
14   Commission to take a number of policy changes and    
15   rule changes to ensure that broadcasters better      
16   serve their local communities.                       
17               And these actions are designed to        
18   enhance the ability of local citizens regarding --   
19   regardless of gender or race to access the broadcast 
20   medium to reach their communities, to improve the    
21   communication between broadcast licensees and their  
22   local communities and identifying local programming, 
0031
 1   and to ensure that vitally important local           
 2   information and viewpoints are provided to the       
Page 11
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 3   community.                                           
 4               So in order to ensure that American      
 5   people have the benefits of a competitive and        
 6   diverse media marketplace that serves their local    
 7   communities, we need to create more opportunities    
 8   for different, new and independent voices to be      
 9   heard.  We need to address the concern that          
10   consolidation has limited the number of local        
11   outlets available to minorities and new entrants.    
12               The limited number of channels available 
13   in the broadcast television and radio spectrum bands 
14   and the high start-up costs of building a station    
15   are significant barriers to entering into            
16   broadcasting.  It can be very difficult for anyone,  
17   nonetheless a new voice, to find an available        
18   channel and gather enough capital to build or buy a  
19   new broadcast station.                               
20               That's why that I propose to the other   
21   Commissioners and the Commission adopted earlier     
22   this year the recommendation that Congress, that it  
0032
 1   create and renew its new -- its tax certificate      
 2   program designed to encourage small firms, including 
 3   those owned by minorities and women, to acquire      
 4   communications businesses, including broadcast       
 5   stations.                                            
 6               We all know that providing tax           
 7   advantages has worked in the past to encourage       
 8   greater diversity of ownership and to open the doors 
 9   for entry by small businesses, including             
10   disadvantaged firms and entities owned by women and  
11   minorities.                                          
12               As detailed in our recent Section 257    
13   report to Congress, I support the establishment of a 
14   new program that would permit the deferral of taxes  
15   on any capital gains involved in such a transaction, 
16   as long as the gain is re-invested in a qualifying   
17   communications entity.                               
18               The new program would also provide tax   
19   credits to sellers who also are financing it through 
20   small firms and other measures might include         
21   restrictions on the size of the purchaser or minimum 
22   holding period for the purchased licenses or a cap   
0033
 1   even on the total eligible value to the transaction. 
 2               Now I also recognize that we can't rely  
 3   on Congress alone to act and I think there's things  
 4   the Commission itself can do and take a number of    
 5   steps to help small and independently-owned          
 6   businesses to overcome these obstacles.              
 7               First, I think the Commission should     
 8   allow these similar qualifying designated entities,  
 9   small and independently-owned businesses, to lease   
10   some of an existing television station's excess      
11   digital broadcast spectrum to distribute their own   
12   programming.                                         
13               This new station would be able to air    
14   its own programs and obtain all the accompanying     
15   rights and obligations of other broadcast stations,  
16   such as public interest obligations and the ability  
17   to carry, and the requirement to carry local         
18   programming.                                         
19               Now there's already a real world example 
Page 12
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
20   of a similar type of arrangement.  Post Newsweek     
21   provides for carriage of Latino alternative TV, LATV 
22   programming on its multi-cast channels in Miami,     
0034
 1   Orlando, Houston, San Antonio and I've circulated a  
 2   proposal to permit this practice last March and      
 3   continue to encourage all my colleagues to adopt it. 
 4               Now while we also should continue to     
 5   look for ways to facilitate minorities ability to    
 6   purchase full power broadcast stations like the tax  
 7   certificate, this ability to lease broadcast         
 8   channels could quickly open up capacity in local     
 9   communities all across the country, considerably     
10   enhancing the ability of small and                   
11   independently-owned businesses and other qualified   
12   designated entities to reach their entire community  
13   with a free programming stream.                      
14               Now the Commission already has in place  
15   similar policies to create additional opportunities  
16   in radio and cable through leased access rules and   
17   low powered FM and I believe that these rules could  
18   actually be changed to be, provide more useful and   
19   to provide for additional access as well.            
20               In response to some of the concerns      
21   expressed by my, my, my colleagues and by some of    
22   the members of the panel today, like the Media       
0035
 1   Access Project, we propose that soon the Commission  
 2   is going to amend its leased access rules and its    
 3   program carriage rules to be more effective.         
 4   Neither of these regulatory regimes have             
 5   successfully achieved their intended goal of         
 6   facilitating the ability of diverse and local        
 7   viewpoints to reach their local audiences and        
 8   critics have long argued that the local leased       
 9   access regime has dramatically been underutilized    
10   because of an artificially high rate.                
11               And I also have heard from many          
12   potential programmers that the program carriage      
13   rules are ineffective and because of a distorted     
14   complaint process and we'll address that issue as    
15   well.                                                
16               Now the low power FM rules, too, I think 
17   can be improved.  While they've been a significant   
18   success in local communities, I think they can be    
19   improved.  Again, as Promethius and the Media Access 
20   Project have noted, there are things we can do to    
21   amend our rules to promote better entry and ensure   
22   local responsiveness on the radio side.              
0036
 1               Now last January I actually proposed to  
 2   all of my Commissioners and it's still pending       
 3   before us to amend our LPFM rules, to take a series  
 4   of steps, all of which were recommended by           
 5   Promethius and the Media Access Project, to do       
 6   things like eliminating the rule prohibiting the low 
 7   power FM transfers and assignments, to allow the     
 8   sale of, of those, to reinstate the original low     
 9   power FM rule that all authorization holders be      
10   local to the community and limit ownership to one    
11   station permitee, to clarify that repetitious and    
12   automated programming doesn't meet the local         
13   origination requirements, to prohibit the programs   
Page 13
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
14   from being broadcast more than twice to meet the     
15   local origination requirements, to expand the        
16   definition of local for, for rural communities, to   
17   permit AM broadcast stations to operate on FM        
18   translator stations, to permit some changes of more  
19   than 50 percent of the membership of the governing   
20   Board, and finally, to impose a cap on the number of 
21   applications accepted into the, in the 2003          
22   translator filing window, thereby protecting LPFM    
0037
 1   service.                                             
 2               And I think it's important that almost   
 3   all of those proposals that again have been pending  
 4   before the Commission for almost a year were all     
 5   advocated by some of the members of the panel today. 
 6               We've also heard from, recommendations   
 7   from our, the Commission's Diversity Federal         
 8   Advisory Committee and the Minority Media and        
 9   Telecommunications Council that we take some         
10   additional steps to facilitate the ability of        
11   qualified designated entities to more easily get     
12   into broadcasting and I think that we've tried to be 
13   responsive.                                          
14               Last March, again, I proposed to the     
15   Commission and it's still pending before all my      
16   Commissioners if they would all vote it, that they   
17   take several other policy changes and rule changes   
18   to implement their exact recommendations.            
19               For example, we proposed that we allow   
20   these designated entities to purchase expired        
21   construction permits and be allotted additional time 
22   to construct and build those broadcast facilities.   
0038
 1               I've also proposed that we amend our,    
 2   our attribution rules to allow for additional        
 3   financing of our so-called equity plus debt rule.    
 4   Again, this was something that was, that was urged   
 5   on us by the Diversity Federal Advisory Committee    
 6   and by minority and media and telecommunications     
 7   advocates that would assist those small businesses   
 8   in acquiring broadcast stations, retaining existing  
 9   stations and building out these construction permits 
10   that are available.                                  
11               All of these proposals were suggested by 
12   outside advocacy groups and have been pending at the 
13   Commission already for more than six months.         
14               I've also heard from the Coalition of    
15   Public Interest Groups that broadcasters should air  
16   a certain amount of different types of content to    
17   ensure they are being locally responsive.            
18               Well I do have some concerns with some   
19   types of mandatory minimums, for example,            
20   requirements for free air times for politicians.     
21               I did propose last March that the        
22   Commission make a comprehensive change to the kind   
0039
 1   of information that broadcasters have to report in   
 2   their process for their renewal.  If broadcasters    
 3   mean it when they tell us they're already providing  
 4   local programming, local news and local information, 
 5   then they shouldn't object to telling the Commission 
 6   in detail what they're actually doing.               
 7               And specifically I propose that          
Page 14
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 8   broadcasters complete and provide every quarter an   
 9   enhanced form in which they would describe and       
10   specify the local civic affairs programming, the     
11   local electoral affairs programming, the amount of   
12   public service announcements they're providing,      
13   whether they're for free or whether they've been     
14   paid and independently produce programming that the  
15   station airs that would be meeting the needs of its  
16   local audience.                                      
17               And I think the most important step is   
18   to first require the broadcasters to be providing    
19   that information on a detailed basis.  And I think   
20   that broadcasters would need to provide this         
21   enhanced information not only in their file, but     
22   also in their, on their Websites and make them       
0040
 1   available on their broadcast stations, association's 
 2   Websites, as well.                                   
 3               Now, I've also circulated a number of    
 4   other proposals to my fellow Commissioners aimed at  
 5   enhancing citizens acts as to and broadcast carriage 
 6   of local programming, I've circulated proposals to   
 7   amend carry rules to ensure the ability of consumers 
 8   to access all of their free local broadcast          
 9   channels.                                            
10               I see that Jim Goodmon is here and I     
11   know that some of the good work that he's doing down 
12   in Raleigh in providing additional local information 
13   on his multi-cast signals and I think the ability to 
14   make sure that those are getting carried to all      
15   consumers is an important aspect of being able to    
16   make sure that broadcasters have the opportunity to  
17   provide that programming.                            
18               And I also circulated a proposal to      
19   clarify that all local broadcasters can refuse to    
20   air any network programming in order to make sure    
21   that they're airing programming of greater local     
22   concern to their communities.                        
0041
 1               And finally, last March I also           
 2   recommended that the Commission adopt a notice to    
 3   consider requiring a physical presence of, so        
 4   someone's actually at every broad -- radio           
 5   broadcasting facility during all hours of operation. 
 6   Requiring that all radio stations be attended would  
 7   only increase the ability of the station to provide  
 8   information of a local nature in the community and   
 9   it would particularly be important during the event  
10   of a severe emergency, a local weather emergency or  
11   any other kind of local emergency that there be a    
12   requirement that all operations be attended will     
13   increase the likelihood that each broadcaster would  
14   be capable of relying -- relaying critical           
15   life-saving information to the public.               
16               And I think this would address some of   
17   the concerns that have been raised by what, for      
18   example, happened in, in Minot that Commissioner     
19   Adelstein raised concerns about.                     
20                Now I think the FCC needs to be         
21   committed to ensuring that broadcasters adequately   
22   serve their local communities and to expand          
0042
 1   opportunities for entry into media ownership and     
Page 15
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 2   media programming and to that end, I believe we      
 3   should act on the issues that I've already discussed 
 4   today.  And I appreciate that many of you have put   
 5   those ideas forward and will continue to put forward 
 6   additional recommendations and I think there is yet  
 7   more to be done.                                     
 8               Now the proposals I've made thus far are 
 9   not the end of the story, but we should not be       
10   inactive as we continue to receive further input.    
11   We can and should move forward on the proposals that 
12   are currently before the Commission.                 
13               I have high hopes that working with all  
14   my colleagues and others we'll be able to continue   
15   to make progress on these issues as again, as I      
16   said, many of these are proposals that have been put 
17   forth by the, many of the panelists today.           
18               Finally, before we begin with the Media  
19   Bureau's presentation and the panels, which I very   
20   much appreciate their, their willingness to come     
21   forward, I want to respond to two of the things that 
22   were raised by some of my fellow Commissioners.      
0043
 1               First, Commissioner Copps I think said   
 2   he wanted to understand what the final outcome of    
 3   this would end up being, including I think he said   
 4   both an NPRM with specific recommendations in the    
 5   timetable for final Commission action and I think    
 6   that those are the kind of things that I think that  
 7   we are going to be committed to end up being doing.  
 8   And Commissioner Adelstein raised two points to      
 9   respond to, first he said that he cited polling data 
10   only here because it was what the law required       
11   because we have to act in the public interest.       
12               Actually, everything we have to do here  
13   is in the public interest, so to the extent that     
14   the, what the public thinks about it in polling      
15   data, it would be just as applicable that everything 
16   that we do, so while I don't disagree that the       
17   public interests and polling data should matter      
18   here, it should matter everywhere, because we always 
19   have to act in the public interest.  That's your     
20   underlying fundamental requirement here at the       
21   Commission.                                          
22               Whether it's on this issue or on what a  
0044
 1   majority of people think about issues like           
 2   (inaudible).                                         
 3               And finally, he said that he had been    
 4   prohibited from meeting with the staff people that   
 5   were in charge of the localism issue; well that's    
 6   not true at all.  The person who's in charge of it   
 7   now under Chairman Martin is not the same person who 
 8   was in charge of it under Chairman Powell.           
 9               And he's more than happy to meet with    
10   Monica Desai any time he'd like to because she's the 
11   staff person who has been in charge of this program  
12   and these issues since I ended up becoming Chairman. 
13               So with that, I actually I want to turn  
14   it over to Monica Desai to begin to do a summary of  
15   where we are on some of the locals issues and the    
16   issues that have been raised so far in the record.   
17               MONICA DESAI:  Good morning,             
18   Mr. Chairman, and Commissioners.                     
Page 16
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
19               In August of 2003, the Commission        
20   launched a localism in broadcasting initiative to    
21   review localism practices among broadcasters.  As    
22   part of this proceeding, on July 1st, 2004, they     
0045
 1   issued a notice of inquiry on the subject.  The      
 2   Media Bureau is reviewing the record in this         
 3   proceeding to date.                                  
 4               At the table with me are Bill Friedman   
 5   and Jeremy Kisell of the Media Bureau.  Jeremy will  
 6   summarize the record to date.                        
 7               JEREMY KISELL:  Good morning,            
 8   Mr. Chairman, and Commissioners.                     
 9               Sorry.                                   
10               During the course of the 2002 review of  
11   its structural broadcast ownership rules, the        
12   Commission received public comments indicating that  
13   broadcasters may be failing to meet the needs of     
14   their local communities.                             
15               In response the Commission opened a      
16   separate inquiry proceeding to seek input on a       
17   number of issues related to broadcast localism.  It  
18   sought input from the public on how broadcasters     
19   communicate with the members of the communities that 
20   they serve to identify interests and needs and how   
21   well they are treating those issues in their         
22   programming, including specific questions about      
0046
 1   political programming and the state of broadcast     
 2   service to all community segments, large and small.  
 3               The NOI asked whether the Commission     
 4   should adopt new policies, practices or rules        
 5   designed directly to promote localism in             
 6   broadcasting and if so, what those policies,         
 7   practices or rules should be.                        
 8               In the alternative, it inquired if it    
 9   should continue to rely on market forces in the      
10   existing issue responsive programming requirements   
11   that ensure that broadcasters meet their localism    
12   obligations.                                         
13               To date the Commission has received more 
14   than 82,800 written comments from broadcasters,      
15   broadcast industry organizations, public interest    
16   groups and members of the public.  Many broadcast    
17   entities submitted information outlining the process 
18   that each follows to determine the needs and         
19   interests of people within their respective          
20   communities of license.  Licensee commentors also    
21   provided detailed data concerning the amount, nature 
22   and variety of the programming that each station     
0047
 1   airs to meet local needs.                            
 2               A number of public interest              
 3   organizations submitted studies of various aspects   
 4   of the nature and quality of local broadcast         
 5   programming today, many questioning the performance  
 6   of broadcasters.                                     
 7               In addition to these written comments,   
 8   the Commission has conducted five localism field     
 9   hearings throughout the country, in Charlotte, North 
10   Carolina, San Antonio, Texas, Rapid City, South      
11   Dakota, Monterey, California, and Portland, Maine.   
12               Of course the 6th hearing is being       
Page 17
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
13   conducted here today in Washington, D.C.             
14               During these proceedings attended by     
15   various Commissioners and Commission staff, the      
16   Agency has engaged in dialogue with industry and     
17   civic leaders, broadcasters and academics as well as 
18   members of the public to obtain information          
19   concerning the issues articulated in the NOI.        
20               To date, the hearings have included      
21   75 formal presentations from scheduled panelists as  
22   well as 391 open mic presentations from anyone else  
0048
 1   in attendance who wanted to be heard.                
 2               The written materials and transcripts of 
 3   the oral testimony gathered at those hearings as     
 4   well as all written comments filed in response to    
 5   the NOI have been placed into the record in the      
 6   localism proceeding and are available on the         
 7   Commission's Website.                                
 8               Some commentors state their belief that  
 9   broadcasters take seriously their obligation to air  
10   locally responsive programming and that many         
11   broadcasters have been inventive in airing locally   
12   oriented news, public affairs and political          
13   programming.                                         
14               For example, they note that some         
15   broadcasters participate in formal meetings          
16   sponsored by the respective State broadcasters       
17   associations at which community leaders, local       
18   politicians, executives of non-profit organizations, 
19   representatives of minority groups and public        
20   interest advocates share the issues that they        
21   believe to be important with them, while others      
22   periodically conduct focus groups and annual viewer  
0049
 1   tracking phone calls that seek feedback and the      
 2   identification of community interests.               
 3               Other commentors state that broadcasters 
 4   include regular and proactive news reporting on      
 5   local stories, information about weather             
 6   emergencies, weekly programs and specials and        
 7   material focusing on minority groups or children.    
 8               Some state that stations also provide    
 9   access to political candidates with programming      
10   featuring candidates and other political experts     
11   discussing issues of the day.                        
12               Some commentors note that broadcasters   
13   also provide local groups and non-profit             
14   organizations with support in media access.  Some    
15   licensees state that their public interest           
16   programming includes news magazines, consumer        
17   segments during newscasts and other non-traditional  
18   formats that are more likely to engage their         
19   audiences and provoke interest in and discussion of  
20   important local events and issues.                   
21               Other commentors note that broadcast     
22   stations provide crucial information in the case of  
0050
 1   emergencies and must continue to serve this public   
 2   safety role in their weather and other programming.  
 3               In addition, many stations have reported 
 4   that they offer programming directed to underserved  
 5   elements of their audience, such as minority groups  
 6   and the economically disadvantaged.                  
Page 18
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 7               A number of commentators indicate that   
 8   stations face increased competition from             
 9   nationally-oriented program sources such as cable    
10   and satellite.                                       
11               Other commentors, however, state that    
12   broadcast licensees devote little time to meeting    
13   these important obligations.  These non-licensee     
14   commentors contend that stations are making          
15   inadequate efforts to serve their local communities  
16   and question the validity of claims by broadcasters  
17   that they are providing substantial locally-oriented 
18   programming.                                         
19               Instead, these parties maintain that     
20   financial considerations exacerbated by the          
21   de-regulation of broadcasting that began in the      
22   1980s have resulted in a critical decrease in the    
0051
 1   quality and quantity of programs offered by          
 2   licensees that is responsive to the needs and        
 3   interests of the communities that they serve.        
 4               Commentors note what they perceive to be 
 5   a continual decline in the amount of local and       
 6   network broadcast news coverage of substantive       
 7   campaign election issues in recent years as well as  
 8   the local -- lack of local public affairs            
 9   programming especially in underserved communities.   
10               Some commentors also note the lack of    
11   programming diversity and criticize broadcasters for 
12   barring access by independent producers of           
13   programming and for not developing and promoting     
14   local artists.                                       
15               As noted in the NOI, it is the           
16   obligation of the Commission to ensure that          
17   broadcasters affirmatively meet their obligations to 
18   serve their communities of interests.  We believe    
19   that the record in this proceeding provides valuable 
20   guidance to assist the Commission in obtaining that  
21   objective.                                           
22               We at the Media Bureau look forward to   
0052
 1   hearing from the witnesses that are scheduled to     
 2   speak today and after considering their views and    
 3   the rest of the record, evidence in this proceeding, 
 4   sharing with the Commission our recommendations in   
 5   our localism report.                                 
 6               Thank you.                               
 7               KEVIN MARTIN:  Thank you.  At this point 
 8   we're going to end up turning it over to our         
 9   moderator, Lou Sigalos.                              
10               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  Mr. Chairman, you   
11   might have some questions for the Bureau.            
12               KEVIN MARTIN:  What's that?              
13               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  I think we might    
14   have some questions for the Bureau, I don't know --  
15               KEVIN MARTIN:  Did you want to --        
16               MICHAEL COPPS:  Well I'd just be         
17   curious, it sounds like, I heard we had 82,000 or    
18   162,000 or however many comments in, I'd like to be  
19   clear on what that public record is and in very      
20   general terms you expressed some of the concerns,    
21   but what are the two or three themes that really     
22   stand out, what are the areas of public concern is   
0053
Page 19
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 1   question number one.                                 
 2               And then number two, as you look at the  
 3   record of the five specific markets that we visited, 
 4   are you able to make any differentiations between    
 5   those markets that we visited in terms of the        
 6   presence or absence of localism, where the           
 7   satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the people who    
 8   live there with the amount of localism that they are 
 9   receiving or not receiving?                          
10               MONICA DESAI:  Well I'll respond to your 
11   second question first, which is whether we've seen   
12   any differentiation among the different markets and  
13   that, we'll have to get back to you on that one,     
14   we'll have to take a look at the record in that      
15   regard and try to distinguish that way.              
16               With respect to the first question, some 
17   general themes or areas of concern, as Jeremy noted  
18   in his report, you know, some commentors suggest     
19   that broadcasters don't devote enough time to        
20   meeting obligations related to localism.             
21               They say that there needs to be more,    
22   some commentors say there need to be more            
0054
 1   locally-oriented programming.  They, they also, some 
 2   commentors complain about the decline in the amount  
 3   of local and network broadcast news coverage of      
 4   issues such as campaign and election related issues. 
 5               And then there's also commentors, there  
 6   are a group of commentors who note, who suggest that 
 7   there's a lack of programming diversity and          
 8   criticize broadcasters for barring access by         
 9   independent producers of programming and for not     
10   developing and promoting local artists.              
11               MICHAEL COPPS:  When the localism task   
12   force was announced back in 2003, it was stated that 
13   it would conduct studies to rigorously measure       
14   localism and how it may be affected by FCC rules and 
15   report back within 12 months.  Obviously we didn't   
16   make the 12 months, but how many studies have, have  
17   been done in pursuit of the localism initiative?     
18               KEVIN MARTIN:  Monica?                   
19               KEVIN MARTIN:  Commissioner Copps, if I  
20   can, if I can enter a response.                      
21               As you indicated, Chairman Powell had    
22   said that he would produce a significant number of   
0055
 1   studies and produce them within 12 months of the     
 2   time this was initiated in 2004.  As you know,       
 3   because we were both on the Commission at the time,  
 4   when I took over as Chairman in March of 2005, that  
 5   time frame had expired and indeed we were supposed   
 6   to have already completed the entire localism        
 7   proceeding and those studies had not been conducted. 
 8               As a matter of fact, there was one study 
 9   that was conducted by Professor Simon Anderson at    
10   the University of Virginia, that was submitted to us 
11   as a first draft, it's been published since last     
12   December.                                            
13               The other data that was gathered is the  
14   data that was actually used for the 10 studies that  
15   were, for some of the 10 studies that were done in   
16   the ownership proceeding.                            
17               But you're right, when Chairman Powell   
Page 20
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
18   left, those studies had not been conducted.          
19               MICHAEL COPPS:  My only point is the     
20   necessity to proceed carefully here.  I know we have 
21   the one study that was done by Simon Anderson, I     
22   think it's 20 pages long.                            
0056
 1               I doubt that it's been peer reviewed,    
 2   correct me if I'm wrong, and I think questions like  
 3   are there differences between the markets that we    
 4   visited are really important.                        
 5               Are there differences between big cities 
 6   and small cities in terms of our public interest     
 7   oversight responsibilities.                          
 8               So I hope as you go through this record, 
 9   all 80 or 160,000 comments, whatever it is, you do   
10   so deliberately, as I said before, all deliberate    
11   speed, I'm all for that, but I don't want to rush to 
12   any conclusions here if we haven't done the research 
13   or we haven't really combed the record and looked    
14   for those kind of differentiations and nuances that  
15   are going to be so vitally important in forming the  
16   record and forming the wisdom of any decisions that  
17   we may make.                                         
18               KEVIN MARTIN:  Of course.  Of course     
19   since, since Monica Desai and the Bureau aren't      
20   making any recommendations today, since, since all   
21   they're doing is just a brief summary of what we've  
22   already done, of course they'll end up doing that    
0057
 1   for --                                               
 2               MICHAEL COPPS:  I look forward to it.    
 3               KEVIN MARTIN:  So I wouldn't, like I     
 4   think she always ends up doing when she's leaving    
 5   the Bureau, I'm confident she'll be end up doing     
 6   that.                                                
 7               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  I had a question    
 8   about the record, as well.                           
 9               KEVIN MARTIN:  Sure.                     
10               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  You've looked at    
11   the 162,000 comments I take it that have been        
12   submitted and studied into the record.  The question 
13   is out of those comments that were received, how     
14   many public witnesses called in the localism         
15   proceeding for loosening of the media ownership      
16   limits as a means of enhancing localism?             
17               MONICA DESAI:  I have to get back to you 
18   on that.                                             
19               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  How about at the    
20   public hearings, just if we just looked at the       
21   public hearings that were held, the public witnesses 
22   that came up, did any public witness say that it was 
0058
 1   a good idea to loosen the ownership rules in order   
 2   to enhance localism, because I think you and I       
 3   attended all of them?                                
 4               MONICA DESAI:  I actually haven't        
 5   attended all of them, I've been in the Bureau for    
 6   about six months, but I'll have to go back and check 
 7   the transcript of all of the witness testimony and   
 8   then I'll get back to you on that.                   
 9               KEVIN MARTIN:  I think that, Jonathan, I 
10   think that when we were in San Antonio I think I can 
11   remember only one, I can remember the reaction of    
Page 21
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
12   the audience, as well, that's the reason why I       
13   remember there was only one that I think called for  
14   it, so, so, but certainly I don't think that there's 
15   been more than a handful at any of the, all of       
16   hearings we've attended.                             
17               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  That was my         
18   recollection as well, I appreciate it.               
19               KEVIN MARTIN:  I think, like I said, I,  
20   and the only reason I can remember one is because    
21   the, the, the boos from the audience when the person 
22   said it in San Antonio was I think the way that we   
0059
 1   might recall it.                                     
 2               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  Yeah, I think I     
 3   remembered one, but it might have been two or three, 
 4   I didn't know if I had missed a couple.              
 5               KEVIN MARTIN:  Well I'm sorry if I       
 6   underestimated.                                      
 7               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  You know, just real 
 8   quick getting back to you, I appreciate your         
 9   response to my concerns about the staff meeting, I   
10   just wanted to clarify, I believe that we should be  
11   able to meet with any staff we want, any time, not   
12   just those that are hand-picked by you or by anybody 
13   else.  I think it's important that we have access to 
14   anybody on the staff, they work for the entire       
15   Commission, not just us.                             
16               KEVIN MARTIN:  I think that, Jonathan,   
17   we can end up debating if you'd like, we're taking   
18   time away from our panel as to why we're all here,   
19   but what I would say is that absolutely, but if      
20   you're going to ask questions about a project        
21   they're no longer in charge of and don't know the    
22   answers to and, indeed, they were doing it with a    
0060
 1   former Chairman, you're going to not get answers     
 2   about where we are, so if you want to talk about a   
 3   particular topic that we're working on, they can be  
 4   there as well to give you a background, but the      
 5   people who are working on it now would need to be    
 6   there as well because if not, those answers might be 
 7   misinterpreted and, but again, I think at this point 
 8   it's probably important for us to try to move on to  
 9   the panelists.  I know that many of them are anxious 
10   to end up trying to participate.                     
11               So, I do think it's important to alert   
12   everyone, including the audience, because we're      
13   going to continue this straight on through and move  
14   on to public comment after this, occasionally        
15   individual Commissioners will get up and go to the   
16   restroom or will go get something to drink, but      
17   they'll be right back and we'll continue on straight 
18   through with everyone's public comments after that.  
19               And so Louis, if you want to, Louis, if  
20   you could actually proceed now, that would be great. 
21               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, 
22   and Commissioners.                                   
0061
 1               As we move to our panel discussion, I'd  
 2   like to review the ground rules very briefly.        
 3               Panelists, each of you have five minutes 
 4   to make your remarks.  I urge you to stay within     
 5   that time limit in order to leave as much time as    
Page 22
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 6   possible for the public comment period.              
 7               Members of the audience, please listen   
 8   respectfully to the panelists, even if you disagree  
 9   with the views they express.  I know that the issues 
10   we're discussing today arouse a lot of passion, but  
11   for this hearing to run smoothly and be successful,  
12   we need to maintain basic decorum and avoid          
13   unnecessary interruptions.  I thank you.             
14               Participating in this panel are          
15   Marcellus Alexander, executive vice president for    
16   NAB Television, president of NAB Television          
17   Foundation.                                          
18               Bob Edwards, national first vice         
19   president of AFTRA, hosts the Bob Edwards show XM    
20   satellite radio and former host NPR's morning        
21   edition.                                             
22               Lisa Fager Bediako, president and        
0062
 1   co-founder Industry Ears.                            
 2               Kim Grandy, president, National          
 3   Organization for Women.                              
 4               Jim Goodmon, president and CEO, Capital  
 5   Broadcasting.                                        
 6               Wade Henderson, president and CEO,       
 7   Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.               
 8               Dan Isett, director of corporate and     
 9   Government Affairs, Parents, Television Council.     
10               Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Senior,       
11   president and founder, Rainbow PUSH Coalition.       
12               Andrew Schwartzman, president and CEO,   
13   Media Access Project.                                
14               Christopher Sterling, president --       
15   professor of media and public affairs, public        
16   policy, public administration, George Washington     
17   University.                                          
18               S. Derek Turner, research director, Free 
19   Press.                                               
20               And Mark Cooper, director of research,   
21   Consumer Federation of America.                      
22               Mr. Alexander.                           
0063
 1               MARCELLUS ALEXANDER:  Good morning,      
 2   Chairman Martin, and Commissioners.  Thank you for   
 3   the opportunity to speak with you today.             
 4               My name is Marcellus Alexander, I'm      
 5   executive vice president for television at the       
 6   National Association of Broadcasters.  I also serve  
 7   as president of NAB EF, an organization that         
 8   develops educational programs to help women and      
 9   people of color advance in the broadcasting          
10   business.                                            
11               During my time in broadcasting I've      
12   managed and been part owner of a successful radio    
13   station in Detroit and managed television stations   
14   in Baltimore and Philadelphia.  I know firsthand the 
15   special relationship that exists between broadcaster 
16   and his or her community.                            
17               You've heard from broadcasters around    
18   the country that localism is the heart of everything 
19   they do.  Well, believe it.  While detractors may    
20   say broadcasters are not provided to committing      
21   localism, the volumes of examples both in the record 
22   and throughout these hearings belie that conclusion. 
Page 23
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
0064
 1   In addition, such conclusions are inconsistent with  
 2   one fundamental economic fact, broadcasters compete  
 3   with each other, every minute of every day to        
 4   attract local viewers to their station.              
 5               To do that, local, relevant programming  
 6   is essential.  Without it, viewers simply change the 
 7   channel and go elsewhere in the market to get it.    
 8               That is why we have one of the most      
 9   vibrant over-the-air broadcasting systems in the     
10   world, in fact, the most vibrant.  We're proud of    
11   the record established in this proceeding.           
12   Broadcasters in every community and the local        
13   constituents that they serve have appeared in force  
14   to defend their public service record.  Governors,   
15   Mayors, Police Chiefs and countless others have      
16   stood behind the broadcasters record of strong       
17   service to their communities in cities as large as   
18   Chicago and as small as Portland, Maine.             
19               But it is broadcasters commitment to     
20   their daily local news, local programming and        
21   emergency information during times of crisis that    
22   sits at the center of their local service.           
0065
 1   Television stations produce more local news than     
 2   ever before.                                         
 3               In this proceeding, most broadcasters    
 4   said that on average they aired 25 to 40 hours of    
 5   local news each week.  You also heard that beyond    
 6   local news programming, radio and television         
 7   stations provide a variety of other locally-produced 
 8   content, including programming on sports, religion,  
 9   the arts and other community-oriented issues.        
10               Indeed local broadcasting is enjoying a  
11   renaissance in locally-produced programming.         
12   Broadcasters unique and important role in providing  
13   emergency information was never more evident than it 
14   was during Katrina and the recent California         
15   wildfires.  In both of these communities,            
16   broadcasters dedicated themselves to getting         
17   information to those who needed it most.             
18               As their own communities burned,         
19   television and radio stations in San Diego and       
20   Los Angeles maintained a constant on-air vigilance   
21   alerting citizens with up-to-the-second changes in   
22   evacuation orders.  In fact, aiding emergency        
0066
 1   officials with one of the largest evacuations in     
 2   American history.                                    
 3               I'd like to show you an example of just  
 4   one of the many broadcasters who covered this event. 
 5   Let's go to the video, please.                       
 6               (Video clip playing.                     
 7               "It was a devastation and loss as fire   
 8   storms swept across Southern California and KABC TV  
 9   was there from the very beginning.  In a crisis, our 
10   local news is the first place people turn for the    
11   information they need to keep safe.  They expect     
12   their local station to be there and we do our best   
13   to exceed that expectation with information specific 
14   to the situation, their neighbor, their needs.       
15               "On Sunday when the winds began to blow  
16   and the fires broke out, we jumped into action,      
Page 24
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
17   cancelling regular programming and commercials,      
18   marshalling the full resources of eyewitness news to 
19   bring non-stop coverage of this critical situation.  
20               "Over the next three days KABC TV would  
21   air 41 hours of uninterrupted commercial free news   
22   coverage, calling in all available personnel,        
0067
 1   cancelling vacations and days off and extending      
 2   shifts to make non-stop coverage possible.  Carried  
 3   live, uninterrupted news conferences by the Governor 
 4   and local authorities about each fire situation.  We 
 5   broadcast important information gathered by our      
 6   reporters and photographers in the heart of the fire 
 7   zone and ran additional live updates and on-air      
 8   calls throughout the night.                          
 9               "Our coverage also used the special      
10   technology KABC has been so proud to introduce to    
11   Southern California, our two helicopters provided    
12   the best overview of the unfolding fire situations,  
13   our live Dopler radar showed detailed wind and smoke 
14   patterns allowing viewers to see how the wind storm  
15   was unfolding and affecting the fire and smoke in    
16   the air.                                             
17               "But our use of technology to serve our  
18   viewers didn't stop on air.  In this digital age we  
19   created special online tools and resources at        
20   ABC7.com to allow instant 24-hour access to          
21   information on evacuation sites, weather             
22   information, road and school closures and emergency  
0068
 1   alerts.                                              
 2               "Our Web department created a special    
 3   interactive Google map with links to all the fire    
 4   locations and the stories of information specific to 
 5   those fires.  We streamed live news conferences and  
 6   portions of our live broadcast coverage on our       
 7   Website so even those in offices or places without   
 8   access to television could get the information they  
 9   need.  We sent out cell phone text alerts and        
10   E-mailed breaking news weather and headline alerts.  
11               "ABC7.com generated nearly 12 million    
12   page views over the last week with nearly a million  
13   and a half unique visitors to our site, most who     
14   came directly to our site.  Nearly a half a million  
15   people viewed our fire site Google map.  Over        
16   300,000 got information on evacuations and closures  
17   and nearly 300,000 people watched our live streaming 
18   video.                                               
19               "KABC TV's commitment did not stop when  
20   the fires died down, before the week was even over   
21   we had launched an ambitious on-air relief drive in  
22   cooperation with the Red Cross chapters in L.A.,     
0069
 1   Orange and San Bernadino counties to raise funds for 
 2   the fire victims.                                    
 3               "I'm glad you guys are doing it for      
 4   everybody as well, we appreciate it.  We've been     
 5   watching the newscasts all week, it's just been so   
 6   heart breaking watching all the families and my      
 7   heart goes out to them.                              
 8               "So many people are displaced by the     
 9   fires and don't have a thing, the normal comforts of 
10   home right now and I think it's really important for 
Page 25
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
11   everybody to come down here and support, you know,   
12   this was really important to me.                     
13               "I woke up this morning and they told me 
14   that you guys were doing this and I thought, you     
15   know, I have to come down and support because this   
16   is, these are our neighbors.                         
17               "That drive raised more than a half a    
18   million dollars in individual contributions and over 
19   3 million in corporate contributions in less than    
20   14 hours.  Oh, that's astonishing news here at the   
21   Rose Bowl and now continues as a mail in and online  
22   donation program.  The fire storm was unprecedented. 
0070
 1   Our responses of the local station was not.          
 2               "This is our mission as a local station. 
 3   This is what we do.  KABC TV both on air and online  
 4   proved both its commitment and its value to the      
 5   Southern California community."                      
 6               The broadcasters are more than conduits  
 7   for information.  They are local citizens as well.   
 8   According to our 2006 broadcast community service    
 9   report, broadcasters across the country provided     
10   more than 10 billion dollars worth of community      
11   service last year alone.  This is not a contribution 
12   that can be overlooked or swept under the carpet.    
13               As we have seen in all of the public     
14   hearings thus far, local charities are universal in  
15   their praise of broadcasters and the work they do to 
16   serve their local communities.  Broadcasters carry   
17   diverse viewpoints, some conservative, some liberal, 
18   some young, some old.  Broadcasters can serve as     
19   megaphones for social issues in causes as well.  NAB 
20   members, including Radio One, ICBC and Howard        
21   University's own WHUR radio, among many others,      
22   rallied support for the Jena 6, impacting the        
0071
 1   outcome of that situation.  And in Los Angeles, in   
 2   other places, Spanish language radio stations helped 
 3   organize rallies, galvanizing the Latino community   
 4   on immigration issues.                               
 5               Is our industry perfect?  Of course not. 
 6   Is there room for stations to do more?  Absolutely.  
 7   Will we ever be able to satisfy all of our critics,  
 8   not a chance.  In fact, the record of these hearings 
 9   show we've been accused of everything from causing   
10   global warming to the mortgage crisis.  As Nell      
11   Carter used to say in her show of the same title,    
12   give me a break.  We're very proud of the record and 
13   will continue to build on it.                        
14               But the truth remains only competitively 
15   viable broadcast stations sustained by adequate      
16   advertising revenues can serve the public interest   
17   effectively and provide the local programming so     
18   essential to communities.  The capability of local   
19   broadcasters to continue operating profitably in     
20   financially sustainable ownership structures must be 
21   of central concern to the Commission.                
22               Again, I appreciate the opportunity to   
0072
 1   join you today, I hope that you have found through   
 2   this lengthy proceeding as I have in my 25 years in  
 3   the business that when broadcasters say they are     
 4   committed to localism, they have a record and        
Page 26
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 5   results to back it up.                               
 6               I believe our record speaks for itself   
 7   by the millions of Americans who turn every day to   
 8   their local broadcasters for information they need   
 9   the most and entertainment they enjoy.               
10               Thank you.                               
11               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you,               
12   Mr. Alexander.                                       
13               Mr. Edwards.                             
14               BOB EDWARDS:  I thank the Commission for 
15   this opportunity to testify.  My name's Bob Edwards  
16   and I'm testifying on behalf of AFTRA, the American  
17   Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which    
18   represent more broadcast workers than any other      
19   union.  I am a proud member and I serve AFTRA as its 
20   national first vice president.                       
21               The major radio conglomerates argue that 
22   the broadcast ownership caps should be lifted to     
0073
 1   enable them to respond to increased competition from 
 2   satellite radio and the Internet, but this ignores   
 3   the local aspect of terrestrial radio broadcasting.  
 4   Satellite radio is by definition a national          
 5   platform.  The strength of terrestrial radio and its 
 6   major appeal is that it's local.                     
 7               When it comes to conveying local         
 8   information, news, weather and community events,     
 9   there is no rural competition between these          
10   platforms.  A national satellite broadcaster is not  
11   going to give local communities information about,   
12   for example, their local school board election and   
13   if terrestrial broadcasters continue to consolidate, 
14   local communities won't get that information from    
15   local radio stations either.                         
16               Localism is inextricably linked with the 
17   rest of the Commission's regulations governing media 
18   ownership, which are also currently under review.    
19   The drive to consolidate ownership of media seems to 
20   ignore the disaster that consolidation has brought   
21   to local news and public affairs and radio in this   
22   country.                                             
0074
 1               The Commission should not intensify the  
 2   continuing evisceration of broadcast localism as a   
 3   result of consolidation by adopting rules enabling   
 4   even more consolidation.  Although I've spent most   
 5   of my career working in public radio, it's           
 6   impossible to ignore the fact that commercial radio  
 7   and television dominate the airwaves in this         
 8   country.                                             
 9               It should not be a luxury for            
10   journalists to practice their profession in an       
11   environment that's free from commercial constraints. 
12   I'm well aware that my colleagues who work at        
13   commercial stations take their responsibilities to   
14   local communities very seriously, unfortunately      
15   their employers increasingly focused on the          
16   corporate bottom line don't seem to share that       
17   priority.                                            
18               If the Commission is going to give       
19   large, multi-national companies the right to exploit 
20   the publicly-owned airwaves for profit, it should    
21   consider how those companies have historically       
Page 27
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
22   behaved when they have been de-regulated.  Radio     
0075
 1   ownership was largely de-regulated in 1996 to the    
 2   detriment of localism in broadcasting.  In Chicago,  
 3   Westinghouse owned WMAQ AM had been an all news      
 4   station since 1989.  Westinghouse bought CBS and     
 5   later merged with Viacom in the '90s.  The merged    
 6   company's radio division, CBS radio, then called     
 7   Infinity, owned Chicago's only other all news format 
 8   station, WBBM AM.                                    
 9               In 2000, Viacom, CBS, Infinity,          
10   determined that it was no longer profitable to       
11   compete against itself, so it shut down WMAQ AM,     
12   because WMAQ AM and WBBM AM were the only two all    
13   news format radio stations in Chicago.  When Viacom  
14   killed WMAQ AM, it was killing WBBM AM's only        
15   competition, leaving the third largest radio market  
16   in the United States with only one all news radio    
17   station.                                             
18               Although these moves may have been       
19   highly profitable for Viacom, they were hardly in    
20   the public interest.  Viacom's radio division, CBS   
21   Radio, also owns both of the only all news format    
22   radio stations in the New York City market.          
0076
 1               Although CBS Radio continues to compete  
 2   against itself in New York City by maintaining       
 3   separate newsrooms, the fact remains that the same   
 4   multi-national media conglomerate programs both of   
 5   the only all news radio stations in New York.  There 
 6   is not a separate independent all news format radio  
 7   station in the largest radio market in the United    
 8   States.                                              
 9               These examples and countless more        
10   illustrate that media consolidation has been the     
11   enemy of localism in broadcasting.  If the           
12   Commission truly seeks to enhance localism, it       
13   should tighten, not loosen, ownership restrictions.  
14   This much is certain, there exists no compelling     
15   public interest justification at this time for the   
16   Commission to relax its ownership caps and thereby   
17   repeat the mistakes of post 1996 consolidation.      
18               The same thing is already happening in   
19   print and television, you have heard AFTRA members   
20   testify at other public hearings across the country  
21   about how media companies that own newspapers and    
22   television stations in the same market routinely     
0077
 1   re-purpose and recycle content.  You've heard about  
 2   how broadcast conglomerates that operate two         
 3   stations in a market consolidate newsrooms, fire     
 4   journalists and homogenize programming.              
 5               My colleagues around the country have    
 6   been very clear about what these proceedings mean to 
 7   us and I hope you've been listening.                 
 8               If you further de-regulate media in this 
 9   country, networks, broadcast stations and newspapers 
10   will continue to consolidate, resulting in fewer     
11   voices heard by citizens.  If you permit this        
12   consolidation, television stations and newspapers    
13   will behave as commercial radio owners behaved when  
14   they were largely de-regulated.  They will adopt a   
15   business model that shuts out local news and         
Page 28
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
16   entertainment in favor of national homogenized       
17   programming.                                         
18                If commercial media are given the       
19   unfettered right to abandon their obligation to      
20   serve the public interest, they will do just that.   
21   Please do not let this happen.                       
22               Instead, please proceed in a deliberate  
0078
 1   fashion, keeping in mind the public interest, not    
 2   corporate profitability.  Accordingly, I would urge  
 3   the Commission to not fast track its consideration   
 4   of the real and lasting impact that further          
 5   consolidation would have on localism in              
 6   broadcasting.                                        
 7               The health and robustness of American    
 8   media is riding on your decision and I thank you     
 9   very much for this opportunity to testify.           
10               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Edwards.  
11               (Applause)                               
12               Ms. Bediako.                             
13               LISA FAGER BEDIAKO:  Thank you, hello,   
14   my name is Lisa Fager Bediako.  I'm the president    
15   and co-founder of Industry Ears.  I want to thank    
16   you for the opportunity to testify this 31st day of  
17   October which many of you recognize as Halloween,    
18   however today is also the last day of Domestic       
19   Violence Awareness Month.  I'm wearing red today to  
20   break the silence and symbolically scream for women  
21   of color who have suffered.                          
22               Most recent stories of Megan Williams    
0079
 1   who was kidnapped, brutally raped and tortured and   
 2   held by six assailants for a month in West Virginia  
 3   and the mother living in Dunbar housing projects in  
 4   Florida who was repeatedly gang raped in front of    
 5   her son.  These stories and other about women of     
 6   color and people of color receive little to no media 
 7   attention in this vast consolidating media           
 8   environment.                                         
 9               Women of color and people of color are   
10   treated as if they are invisible, unimportant, a     
11   last thought.                                        
12               Industry Ears is a non-profit,           
13   non-partisan and independent organization which is   
14   focused on the impact media has on communities of    
15   color and children since 2003.  My co-founder, Paul  
16   Porter, and I have collectively more than 40 years   
17   of experience working for national and local media   
18   outlets.  Using our insiders knowledge, we created   
19   Industry Ears and IndustryEars.com to address the    
20   myths, misconceptions about how media and            
21   entertainment industries operate and more            
22   importantly, to develop effective means to combat    
0080
 1   the negative consequences of harmful media messages  
 2   and images on children.                              
 3               For decades radio was a media source for 
 4   people of color.  The civil rights movement relied   
 5   on radio stations to report what other stations      
 6   would not.  It also gave voice to black leaders and  
 7   concerned citizens.  Now Clear Channel and Radio     
 8   One, the two largest urban radio format              
 9   conglomerates, have eliminated news.                 
Page 29
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
10               Last year, for example, throw the        
11   clip -- just kidding.  I didn't know we could bring  
12   bells and whistles, or else I would have brought my  
13   own video and it would have been fabulous.           
14               Last year when Korea was reported to     
15   having launched several missiles towards the United  
16   States, the number one story on urban radio was the  
17   release of Little Kim from jail, with no mention of  
18   the seriousness of what was going on in our country. 
19               The lack of localism has affected people 
20   of color more than any other format in urban radio.  
21   Over 75 percent of urban radio stations carry        
22   syndication and what this does is it limits, it      
0081
 1   limits our voices, our -- it also limits jobs for    
 2   people of color and others who want to work in       
 3   radio, in urban radio.  Syndication has not only     
 4   caused a disproportionate loss of industry jobs, but 
 5   more importantly stifled news and information to     
 6   local communities.  For decades radio -- I'm sorry.  
 7               I was only asked to be on the panel      
 8   yesterday, so my testimony is still in development.  
 9   Again, as a woman of color, it's just another        
10   metaphor of what is going on now in media and in     
11   other things in our community.                       
12               I want to get back to public service     
13   obligations.  We, I heard that word used and I'd     
14   like to see right now it's a lot about public        
15   service obligations are limited to Sunday at 5 a.m.  
16   I love Reverend Jackson's show but unfortunately in  
17   some markets he is on at 5 a.m. in the morning on    
18   Sunday and I'm not sure that that is a, you know, a  
19   huge listener, listenership at that time.            
20               Washington, D.C., is a great example of  
21   what consolidation and a lack of localism has        
22   created for communities of color.  The nation's      
0082
 1   Capitol overshadows local issues.  The public        
 2   airwaves are a vital communications source to local  
 3   communities.  African-Americans, which is, which are 
 4   the largest segment of the D.C. population, listen   
 5   and watch more TV and radio than any other ethnic    
 6   group.                                               
 7               In this market, D.C. is a top 10 market, 
 8   we have four urban radio stations, three out of the  
 9   four have syndicated programming and only one out of 
10   the four has news coverage.                          
11               I also want to, also make note of what   
12   happens with syndication.  Syndication is easier to  
13   stop one voice than it is 100 independent voices in  
14   100 markets.  Also what we have going on are         
15   national playlists that are permitted and encouraged 
16   by corporate (inaudible) practices which, which,     
17   which is supported by tons of evidence, uncovered by 
18   former Attorney General Elliott Spitzer and current  
19   Governor of New York City, but unfortunately these   
20   corporate violators have, are Federal violators of   
21   the law have only received a slap on the wrist from  
22   the FCC.                                             
0083
 1               Our Attorney General up in New York was  
 2   able to get 36 million dollars in fines and our      
 3   Federal organization here was only able to agree to  
Page 30
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 4   12 million with no admittance of guilt.              
 5               So, I'll end this and say that I         
 6   strongly urge the FCC to slow down and to take into  
 7   account and review diversity recommendations that    
 8   have been submitted.  We need a diverse environment  
 9   of owners to reflect our diverse America.            
10               (Applause).                              
11               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, thank you,    
12   Ms. Bediako.                                         
13               Ms. Gandy.                               
14               KIM GANDY:  Thank you.  Chairman Martin  
15   and Commissioners, my name is Kim Gandy, I'm         
16   president of the Now Foundation as well as the       
17   National Organization for Women, the countries       
18   largest grass-roots women's rights organization with 
19   over half a million members across the country.      
20               Lisa and I are also part of the Women's  
21   Coalition for Dignity and Diversity, a coalition     
22   representing more than 12 million women that was     
0084
 1   formed in the wake of the Imus scandal.              
 2                I have four inter-connected points, all 
 3   of which are backed up by the studies that you       
 4   already have in hand.                                
 5               First, that programming needs of local   
 6   communities are best served by local ownership.      
 7   It's hard to argue with the obvious.  Single station 
 8   owners who are headquartered in a community and      
 9   focused on that community are better able to         
10   understand and serve that area's needs than large    
11   conglomerates that are headquartered in another      
12   State or across the country.                         
13               So increasing local ownership should be  
14   a goal in any effort aimed at increasing local       
15   content and local responsiveness.                    
16               In case it's not obvious enough, there   
17   are numbers to back up the assertion that local      
18   ownership increases local programming, for example,  
19   the fact that locally-owned and operated television  
20   stations aired more local news content than their    
21   conglomerate counterparts to the tune of 25 to,      
22   25 percent more local broadcast news in every half   
0085
 1   hour news show.                                      
 2               Second, this desirable local ownership,  
 3   especially single station ownership, is more likely  
 4   to occur with female and minority owners.  Whether   
 5   you're talking about radio or television, the median 
 6   minority or female owner controls only a single      
 7   station and is headquartered in the community where  
 8   that station is located, obviously serving the       
 9   interests of localism.                               
10               For example, radio stations owned by     
11   women are significantly more likely to be locally    
12   owned.  64.4 percent of female-owned stations are    
13   locally owned, compared to only 41.6 percent of      
14   non-female-owned stations.  Moreover, women are more 
15   likely to own only a single station, thereby         
16   focusing programming on that one community.          
17               In radio, for example, the majority of   
18   all female owners are single station owners and the  
19   proportion is even higher for women of color, with   
20   over 90 percent of Latino station owners and over    
Page 31
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
21   80 percent of African-American female owners having  
22   only a single radio station focused on local         
0086
 1   community.                                           
 2               Third, local owners are being squeezed   
 3   out by increased concentration and market            
 4   consolidation hurting both localism and media        
 5   diversity efforts.  These locally-based owners,      
 6   especially those who own only a single station or a  
 7   small number of stations are being squeezed out of   
 8   the market by consolidation which makes it more and  
 9   more difficult for them to compete with large        
10   conglomerates both for programming and for           
11   advertising dollars.                                 
12               According to the Free Press study, the   
13   probability that a particular station will be        
14   female-owned or minority-owned is significantly      
15   lower in concentrated markets and the more           
16   concentrated the market, the less likelihood that    
17   there will be a female-owned or minority-owned       
18   station in that market.                              
19               We urge this Commission not to take any  
20   action that will increase ownership concentration,   
21   in fact, we urge you to do exactly the opposite.     
22               Finally, increased ownership by women    
0087
 1   and people of color will serve the interests of      
 2   localism, in addition to increasing public access to 
 3   this public asset, the airwaves.  Despite the fact   
 4   that we represent two-thirds of the country, women   
 5   and people of color are woefully underrepresented in 
 6   media ownership.                                     
 7               Women own 5 percent of television        
 8   stations and 6 percent of commercial radio stations. 
 9   Racial ethnic minorities own about 3 percent of      
10   television stations and less than 8 percent of radio 
11   stations.  Unfortunately most studies do not allow   
12   us to look separately at minority female ownership   
13   and we urge you to rectify this in future studies.   
14               So, in order to increase service and     
15   responsiveness to local communities, particularly    
16   the underserved audiences of women and people of     
17   color, the FCC must remedy the serious               
18   underrepresentation of women and people of color in  
19   broadcast ownership of both radio and television     
20   stations.                                            
21               As we've pointed out in previous         
22   comments, there are numerous public interest         
0088
 1   benefits to increasing minority in women's           
 2   ownership, including an increase in program          
 3   diversity, a breakdown of stereotypes, better        
 4   service for underrepresented segments of the         
 5   population, increased civic participation and not    
 6   least remedying past discrimination against women    
 7   and minorities who were not included in the          
 8   Government's initial free handout of the broadcast   
 9   spectrum.                                            
10               The Commission has repeatedly found that 
11   it's essential to a democracy for the electorate to  
12   have access to divergent viewpoints on controversial 
13   issues, bet few of the FCC's Commission studies even 
14   attempt to address whether current levels of media   
Page 32
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
15   consolidation address that issue and provide the     
16   public with a true diversity of views.               
17               Finally, in light of recent events, I    
18   believe that the paltry level of female ownership    
19   affects the coverage of women's issues and the way   
20   women are portrayed in the media.  Increasing the    
21   diversity of ownership would increase diverse        
22   content and diverse voices and that would serve all  
0089
 1   of us.                                               
 2               We look forward to working with you      
 3   toward that end.                                     
 4               (Applause).                              
 5               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Ms. Gandy.    
 6               Mr. Goodmon.                             
 7               JIM GOODMON:  Thank you very much, my    
 8   name is Jim Goodmon, I'm president of Capital        
 9   Broadcasting Company in Raleigh and I'd like to say  
10   I'm the third generation president of our company,   
11   my grandfather started it in 1929.  You know, this   
12   is a great time to be a broadcaster and thank you    
13   for digital television and thank you for digital     
14   radio.                                               
15               Now starting with that point, I've got   
16   three, I've got a suggestion, I'm going to move the  
17   ball forward today.  We're going to move the ball    
18   forward.  I have three suggestions for you.          
19               The first one is, please don't do        
20   anything about ownership, and I have two reasons for 
21   saying that.  One is we are now going into the       
22   digital transition.  You know those two TV stations  
0090
 1   I own in Raleigh, they are really eight TV stations  
 2   now.  You know that FM station I own in Raleigh, I   
 3   really have three stations now.                      
 4               I mean we're moving into digital.  I'm   
 5   not sure what's going to happen to those other       
 6   channels, I don't know exactly where this is going   
 7   to go, but why would we work on ownership regulation 
 8   at the end of an era?  You know, why do we make a    
 9   change before we really get into this digital and    
10   see what's going on?                                 
11               And the other thing I want to say about  
12   ownership is I'm really worried you'll change one    
13   thing.  You'll get real interested in the radio caps 
14   or I know you're very interested in newspapers.      
15   What happened to us in the last ownership was we had 
16   a group working on radio and, you know, we'll do     
17   this about radio and they're off fussing about radio 
18   and they come up with something.  We had a group     
19   working on television ownership and we already have  
20   two here and over here you can have three and they   
21   fight and fight and fight.                           
22               And then you come up with you can own a  
0091
 1   newspaper and then, and then all of a sudden this    
 2   rule-making is turned out and everybody fell to      
 3   pieces.  Nobody put it all on the same piece of      
 4   paper.  It's not just whether you should allow a TV  
 5   station and a newspaper to be co-owned.  Remember,   
 6   that same crowd can own eight radio stations, and    
 7   that same crowd can own the cable company.           
 8               So you can't take one thing and work on  
Page 33
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 9   it.  I mean this has to be, am I making any sense?   
10   I'm saying -- it's kind of a --                      
11               (No).                                    
12               JIM GOODMON:  No, okay.                  
13               Right, so do it altogether.  Do it       
14   altogether.  Like don't just pick one ownership      
15   thing, so please don't do ownership now.             
16               The second issue is please do the third  
17   periodic.  I mean I'm, we've got a lot of work to do 
18   to get these analog antennas and digital stuff up,   
19   it's a, we're, several of us have got lots of        
20   problems so we really need the third periodic to     
21   move along with the digital transition.              
22               Now, localism.  On one side, localism,   
0092
 1   on one side we've got the crowd that says, we look   
 2   at the broadcasters, we're wonderful, look at all    
 3   the stuff we do.  On the other side we've got these  
 4   people saying broadcasters are not fulfilling their  
 5   requirements, this is terrible.                      
 6               Well my suggestion is why don't you ask  
 7   us what we're doing.  You've had a proceeding,       
 8   you've had a proceeding, I don't know whether it's a 
 9   notice -- I'm not sure what it is, you know, why --  
10   to suggest that broadcast stations report quarterly  
11   on what we do.                                       
12               That's a, that's an imminently           
13   reasonable notion so you can see what we're doing.   
14   You've got some really good proposals about what     
15   should be on that questionnaire, if you could get    
16   that out, then you can start, we can and you all can 
17   start deciding what you think about what we're       
18   doing, with real data.                               
19               And then the second part of that is the  
20   minimum public interest standards proceeding.  You   
21   have on one hand, there's this suggestion that we're 
22   supposed to serve the local community, but nobody    
0093
 1   wants to suggest where that is.                      
 2               Tell us what our minimum public interest 
 3   standards are.  That could be a really healthy       
 4   exercise for everybody.  We wouldn't be just         
 5   shooting out here about what's good and what's bad   
 6   and you've got three or four really good proposals   
 7   about what should be included in the minimum public  
 8   interest standards.                                  
 9               And it's generally is you do local       
10   programming, not that you have to do programming     
11   about A, B, C or D, but that you do local            
12   programming and local community ascertainment, stuff 
13   like that, so I'm just saying it would really help   
14   to do quarterly reporting.  You know, I think these  
15   things have been here since '99.                     
16               I used to say I wanted to live to see my 
17   grandchildren finish high school, now I'm on the,    
18   these proceedings.  I mean this could really be      
19   helpful to everybody, is to get this minimum public  
20   interest standards and quarterly reporting out.  So  
21   that's three things.                                 
22               Please let's get through the transition  
0094
 1   before we start getting to this ownership.  If       
 2   you're going to do ownership, you've got to look at  
Page 34
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 3   everything.  You can't just take one thing and say   
 4   this is okay, you've got to remember all the         
 5   different things we can own.  The third periodic and 
 6   quarterly reporting and minimum public interest      
 7   standards.                                           
 8               Thank you very much.                     
 9               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Goodmon.  
10               Mr. Henderson.                           
11               WADE HENDERSON:  Good morning,           
12   Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission, thank you   
13   for the opportunity to appear before you today.  I'm 
14   Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership          
15   Conference on Civil Rights, the nation's oldest,     
16   largest and most diverse civil and human rights      
17   coalition, with nearly 200 member organizations      
18   working to build an America as good as its ideals.   
19               I'm also the Joseph Rowe professor of    
20   public interest law at the University of the         
21   District of Columbia.                                
22               Now, the leadership conference strongly  
0095
 1   believes in the value and power of the free market   
 2   of ideas.  We also believe that the health of our    
 3   nation's democracy depends on the continued          
 4   existence of a diversity of viewpoints in the public 
 5   domain.                                              
 6               But today instead of local ownership     
 7   with a diversity of view, we now have homogenized    
 8   cookie-cutter media divorced from local concerns.    
 9   We believe that every American should be concerned   
10   about the loss of the independent journalistic       
11   voices that have connected our nation, served our    
12   local communities and provided the foundation for    
13   our democracies.  If a company can buy a wide        
14   variety of media in the same community, it           
15   essentially provides one voice, not many.            
16               This means less diversity of viewpoint.  
17   If racial and ethnic minorities, people of color,    
18   women, older Americans and persons with disabilities 
19   are not employed at news operations at all levels of 
20   management, there are few who can speak with         
21   authority about their condition in the community.    
22               This means less or less complete         
0096
 1   coverage of issues that are important to them.       
 2   Issues like economic inclusion, the struggle for     
 3   quality public education, immigration reform and the 
 4   prevention of violent hate crime.  And if there      
 5   isn't local integration in the management of local   
 6   news operations, issues important to local           
 7   communities can be ignored.  This means the public   
 8   interest isn't being served.                         
 9               Now in June of this year the leadership  
10   conference sponsored a Web-based national town hall  
11   meeting with on-the-ground locations in both         
12   Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, on the       
13   importance of diversity in media ownership.  Not     
14   surprisingly the program was called why media        
15   diversity matters.                                   
16               Video from our June event which featured 
17   author, commentator and talk show host Tavist        
18   Smiley, Denver Mayor John Hickenluper and your own   
19   FCC Commissioner, Michael Copps, can be viewed at    
Page 35
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
20   our Website at www.Civilrights.org and we have       
21   brought DVDs of the event for submission to the      
22   Commission.  If I had known, I perhaps would have    
0097
 1   shown them, but in the interest of time, let's move  
 2   on.                                                  
 3               Now we believe that media diversity,     
 4   very straightforwardly, is a civil rights issue.     
 5   Media diversity is a civil rights issue and we felt  
 6   it was important to highlight the issue for the      
 7   nation because of what is really at stake, nothing   
 8   less than equal opportunity in the public domain and 
 9   equal access to important local and national         
10   information and resources.                           
11               The unanimous conclusion of participants 
12   in our program was that while hearings like this are 
13   important, the FCC is doing an inadequate job of     
14   identifying and working to eliminate the barriers of 
15   participation of women and people of color in radio  
16   and television.  Now the 21st century is rapidly     
17   becoming the age of big media and as consolidation   
18   grows, localism suffers and diversity dwindles.      
19               Local ownership of broadcast outlets     
20   means better coverage for the communities they serve 
21   and yet even in our nation's Capitol, it is          
22   difficult to find newspaper, television and radio    
0098
 1   content that accurately showcases the breadth and    
 2   diversity of our unique version of the American      
 3   experience.                                          
 4               This is not a coincidence.  Research by  
 5   Free Press, which is here, of course they're here at 
 6   the table, shows that Washington, D.C., media        
 7   ownership is heavily concentrated and predominantly  
 8   non-local.                                           
 9               Two companies, News Corporation and NBC  
10   GE, together control over half the television        
11   revenues in Washington -- in the Washington, D.C.,   
12   market.  Only two of the areas 10 full power         
13   commercial TV stations are locally-owned and         
14   operated.  Non-local owners control 63 percent of    
15   the District's 44 commercial radio stations.  That   
16   doesn't, of course, reflect the diversity of this    
17   population.                                          
18               Now, like Commissioner McDowell, I'm a   
19   Washington, D.C., native and I can tell you that     
20   local news has not always been responsive, even to   
21   important local issues with national dimension.      
22               I remember when the nation's Capitol was 
0099
 1   a locally-segregated City and where the interests of 
 2   African-Americans were largely ignored.  And I       
 3   valued your mention of WTOP and WMAL, I'm sorry that 
 4   I couldn't have interned at either of them, but I    
 5   think we all recognize the value of those            
 6   internships and I think we also recognize that those 
 7   opportunities should be available to all segments of 
 8   our community.                                       
 9               And so certainly these things have real  
10   importance.  Now in recent years the issue of voting 
11   rights in Congress for District residents has after  
12   much time and effort finally moved from a peripheral 
13   concern to an issue deemed worthy of coverage by     
Page 36
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
14   most local media outlets.  Local media has recently  
15   given the issue a validity and prominence that       
16   helped engage the citizens of Washington, D.C., as   
17   well as the national and international civil rights  
18   communities.                                         
19               But this is a rare exception and it came 
20   about after many years of protest, arguing that      
21   because the District was predominantly an            
22   African-American City, there was largely no          
0100
 1   attention paid to the gross stain on American        
 2   democracy that denying residents of the nation's     
 3   Capitol has for our own circumstance.                
 4               So, we understand these, these, the      
 5   important challenges.  We in the civil rights        
 6   community care about media ownership because the way 
 7   the public looks at issues, indeed whether the       
 8   public is even aware of issues like fair housing or  
 9   voting discrimination or D.C. voting rights, for     
10   that matter, is directly related to the way these    
11   issues are covered by the media.                     
12               The way the media covers issues is       
13   directly related to who the reporters and producers  
14   and anchors are.  Who is employed by the media is    
15   directly related to who owns the media and who owns  
16   the media is directly related to policies that       
17   determine who gets a Federal license to operate and  
18   who does not.                                        
19               The battle over who controls the media   
20   is a battle that the civil rights community has      
21   fought for decades because we have long recognized   
22   the critical role media plays in creating a more     
0101
 1   just and equitable society.                          
 2               We recognize that without the First      
 3   Amendment to the Constitution, there would have been 
 4   no civil rights movement and we recognize had the    
 5   visions of police dogs, hosers and people being      
 6   beaten at the height of the modern civil rights      
 7   movement had not been broadcast into the homes of    
 8   America, the transformation that we have come to     
 9   accept as the modern movement would not have         
10   occurred.                                            
11               So what we're talking about today has    
12   real consequence for real people in communities all  
13   over this country and we would join in those who     
14   suggest there is no public interest to be served by  
15   loosening the rules of ownership to allow the kinds  
16   of concentrations that obviously have been           
17   facilitated by the 1996 Telecom Act but could be     
18   further facilitated by action taken through this     
19   Commission.                                          
20               We would urge you to think long and hard 
21   and carefully before you make further changes that   
22   could erode the diversity of viewpoint that we have  
0102
 1   come to enjoy.                                       
 2               Thank you very much.                     
 3               (Applause).                              
 4               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you,               
 5   Mr. Henderson.                                       
 6               Mr. Isett.                               
 7               DAN ISETT:  Good morning, Mr. Chairman,  
Page 37
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 8   Commissioners, I have the unenviable task of going   
 9   into between Mr. Henderson and Reverend Jackson, but 
10   I'll attempt to do the best I can.                   
11               My name is Dan Isett, I'm proud to       
12   represent the better than 1.2 million members of the 
13   Parents Television Council whose mission it is to    
14   protect children from sex, violence, and profanity   
15   in entertainment.                                    
16               On the surface there would seem to be    
17   little connection between our mission and the media  
18   ownership issues that bring us together here today,  
19   but indeed there is no question that the             
20   consolidation of media outlets has led to a          
21   coarsening of television content, a destruction of   
22   the concept of community standard of decency, and    
0103
 1   unresponsive, irresponsible news media that ignores  
 2   news unfavorable to its parent corporation and a     
 3   cable television industry that effectively functions 
 4   as a cartel, forcing consumers and families to buy   
 5   enormous amounts of unwanted programming just to get 
 6   access to the family programming they actually want. 
 7               Media consolidation has led to a         
 8   self-serving news media that seeks to protect the    
 9   interests of its corporate parent.  The FCC has been 
10   empowered by Congress to uphold broadcast, decency   
11   standards on the public airwaves at the times when   
12   children are most likely to be in the audience and   
13   the Supreme Court has upheld Congress' right to do   
14   so.                                                  
15               Unfortunately the broadcast networks     
16   have challenged the FCC's ability to enforce these   
17   standards and, as you know, even convinced two       
18   Federal Judges in New York City that they have the,  
19   quote, unquote, right to air the "F" and the "S"     
20   word at times of day when we know there to be tens   
21   of millions of children in the audience.  Although   
22   dozens of concerned family groups, including the     
0104
 1   PTC, as well as tens of thousands of concerned       
 2   parents looked on with disgust that a Federal Court  
 3   could reach such a preposterous conclusion, there    
 4   has been only limited public outcry over that        
 5   decision.                                            
 6               The reason for that, in my opinion, is   
 7   simple, in large measure, the American people don't  
 8   know that it has happened.  In the wake of that      
 9   Court decision, not a single national broadcast news 
10   organization saw fit to cover it and even in a       
11   multitude of a 24-hour a day news on cable, there    
12   was near zero coverage of a decision that will       
13   directly impact every family in the country as well  
14   as the policies determining appropriate uses of      
15   airwaves that they, themselves, own.                 
16               There is one, there's only one           
17   conclusion that can be reached, that the corporate   
18   fuss divisions did not cover their parents -- their  
19   parent company's lawsuits to claim the absurd right  
20   to air profanity early in the day.                   
21               In a more diverse, more localized media  
22   environment, companies are held to account for their 
0105
 1   actions.  Clearly in this case they've not been.     
Page 38
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 2               Rather than take their public interest   
 3   obligation seriously, the broadcast networks have    
 4   exhibited a pattern of behavior that reflects a      
 5   contempt for the owners of the very airwaves from    
 6   which they profit.                                   
 7               On November 2004, Viacom, then the       
 8   corporate parent of CBS Television Network, entered  
 9   into a Consent Decree with the Commission wherein it 
10   admitted airing indecent material, paid a fine and   
11   committed itself to a detailed compliance plan to    
12   prevent the further airing of indecent material.     
13               There was no evidence that that          
14   compliance plan was followed and just last week CBS  
15   meekly explained to the Commission that it had       
16   understood the Consent, the terms of the Consent     
17   Decree only applied to live programming.             
18               Since it was CBS only -- own attorneys,  
19   rather, who negotiated the terms of this contract    
20   and there's no such stipulation in it, it is         
21   preposterous and outrageous that CBS made this       
22   claim.  If media conglomerates can't be trusted with 
0106
 1   something as simple as making a good faith effort to 
 2   prevent the airing of indecent material, then how    
 3   can they be trusted to be good stewards of the       
 4   public airwaves and then be given more access to     
 5   them.                                                
 6               The proposed elimination of the          
 7   newspaper duopoly rule threatens the important shake 
 8   that media outlets have on each other, if a          
 9   television station and a newspaper in a given market 
10   share ownership, it follows that they will share     
11   editorial outlook on policy.  Even if they don't,    
12   how likely is it that a newspaper would criticize a  
13   local broadcaster for anything, much less a          
14   violation of community standards of decency if both  
15   entities are owned by the same company.              
16               Much as networks have a choke-hold over  
17   the programming decisions of their affiliates, so,   
18   too, would an ownership group exercise editorial     
19   control over its media properties in the same        
20   market.                                              
21               There has been much attention paid       
22   recently to the acquisition of the Wall Street       
0107
 1   Journal by News Corporation but I'd like to          
 2   illustrate another way in which media consolidation  
 3   has an adverse affect on families.                   
 4               The vast majority of cable programming   
 5   is owned by a mere 6 major media conglomerates and   
 6   all of these corporations force cable and satellite  
 7   providers to carry all of their network offerings,   
 8   if any are to be carried, a practice known as        
 9   bundling.                                            
10               Consequently, consumer choice in cable   
11   programming has remained illusive, despite FCC       
12   reporting last year, despite an FCC report last year 
13   that demonstrated that consumers could save as much  
14   as 13 percent if simply allowed to pick and choose   
15   their own channel lineups.                           
16               News Corporation recently launched the   
17   Fox business channel and through a similar bundled   
18   arrangement will leverage carriage of this network   
Page 39
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
19   and demand a prescribed per subscriber fee into tens 
20   of millions of home, regardless of any market demand 
21   for a new network devoted exclusively to business    
22   news.                                                
0108
 1               It is at once outrageous and ironic that 
 2   a network devoted to the coverage of business would  
 3   exploit a fundamentally anti-competitive business    
 4   model to guarantee it will make a buck.  However,    
 5   that is exactly what happened and is happening every 
 6   day with dozens of network that are free from        
 7   competitive pressure and line the pockets of media   
 8   conglomerates who force cable programmers to         
 9   distribute their programming even while forcing      
10   consumers to pay for it.                             
11               At a mere 50 cents per subscriber per    
12   month for a network like the Fox business channel,   
13   this will net News Corporation nearly a half billion 
14   dollars per year before a single cent of advertising 
15   is sold.  And News Corp will be able to count on     
16   this revenue regardless of any would-be market       
17   demand for its product.                              
18               This is only possible in a marketplace   
19   dominated by a few major players who through         
20   vertical and horizontal ownership integration game   
21   the system to extort ever more money from families   
22   who unwittingly line the pockets of the media        
0109
 1   giants.                                              
 2               Continued media consolidation puts the   
 3   corporate interest before the public interest and it 
 4   is up to the FCC as the rightful upholder of the     
 5   public interest to maintain a media ownership policy 
 6   that benefits the public and not merely only those   
 7   who exploit the media landscape for their own gain.  
 8               The interest of the public, concerned    
 9   parents and impressionable children, the very owners 
10   of the broadcast airwaves, must be paramount and     
11   it's time that responsibility and common decency     
12   once again became part of the media conglomerates    
13   lexicon.                                             
14               Thank you very much.                     
15               (Applause).                              
16               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Isett.    
17               Reverend Jackson.                        
18               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  Mr. Chairman, and   
19   members of the Commission, I am honored to be here   
20   today to discuss the critical issue of media         
21   ownership.                                           
22               For some of the millions of Americans    
0110
 1   that will never have a seat at this table, is I hope 
 2   that our presence today it not a fig leaf to cover   
 3   up a fact accomplished that we're heard and not      
 4   tolerated.                                           
 5               Most Americans agree with what you've    
 6   heard here today.  The same people who want local    
 7   control of school boards, want States rights in      
 8   voting off costs to gain control of media which      
 9   determines legal and State outcome.  For too long    
10   media policies have made -- have laid behind closed  
11   doors.  This broken, corrupt process has led to too  
12   few own too much at the expense of too many.         
Page 40
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
13               It's time to democratize our public      
14   airwaves.  We need to democratize the way the FCC    
15   does business.  It's not enough to give people a     
16   chance to speak.  The FCC needs to listen and do     
17   something to address our concerns.                   
18               The FCC should be serving people, of     
19   course, and not profit.  If the FCC listened to the  
20   public, it would be focused on improving media       
21   diversity, not rushing toward consolidation.         
22               Media diversity could not be more        
0111
 1   important.  Media's a life or death issue for        
 2   communities of color across the country.             
 3   Representation is directly tied to ownership.  Look  
 4   no further than the Jena 6 to see the results.  We   
 5   agree with the concern that people of color own just 
 6   7 percent of the broadcast stations in the country,  
 7   it's a disgrace you will level of inequality in one  
 8   of the most important arenas of our economy and our  
 9   democracy.                                           
10               The City of Washington, people of color  
11   make up 72 percent of the population, but not a      
12   single TV station owned in D.C. is minority owned.   
13   If you want more diversity, consolidation is not the 
14   answer.  Consolidation is the polar opposite of      
15   diversity.  You can't have both.  Fewer owners mean  
16   fewer opportunities.                                 
17               If a giant company is able to purchase a 
18   station across the country, people of color already  
19   victims of the long history of discriminatory        
20   practices, lending practices, now the mortgage       
21   (inaudible) crisis, are pushed off the field, often  
22   out of the picture.  That's unacceptable and yet our 
0112
 1   Government has turned a blind eye for their case.    
 2               I'd been concerned a few months ago      
 3   about statements made by Mr. Imus and the "B" word.  
 4   We are damaging then the insult which (inaudible)    
 5   self-sufficient.  He was on MSNBC 750 hours a year,  
 6   on CBS Radio 1,040 hours a year, he was on more      
 7   hours of day in a week and a year than all blacks,   
 8   Latinos, Asians and women combined.  It's            
 9   unacceptable, such a concentration of power.         
10               We believe diversity crisis, it's still  
11   not clear that the FCC is serious about addressing   
12   it.  Stopping media consolidation is the most        
13   important way of help minority ownership.  The       
14   neglect around the community crisis are grave while  
15   the rest is good for local communities.              
16               Let me say in a more rare specific       
17   situation, the Cirrus, XM merger issues.  There are  
18   major concerns with its current proposed structure   
19   of the Cirrus acquisition of XM satellite.  The      
20   (inaudible) transition would result in the business  
21   transaction of the two most significant largest      
22   companies in the satellite communications, in        
0113
 1   effect, this creates a monopoly.  Competition in     
 2   this space would become virtually impossible.        
 3   Program menus is dangerously subject to the combined 
 4   (inaudible) self-interest and whim.                  
 5               This transaction as currently structured 
 6   has the potential to weaken serious economic havoc   
Page 41
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 7   on any business attempting to become part of the     
 8   marketplace in the communities these businesses      
 9   represent.  The Bose transaction as currently        
10   structured has the very real potential of            
11   eliminating diversity and opportunities for our      
12   minority participation in ownership.  The Commission 
13   must uphold the statute and regulations to contend   
14   diversity and opportunist for ownership minor        
15   rights.                                              
16               As previously structured, it is a bad    
17   deal.  It's not in the public interest.  Please hear 
18   us, let we, the people, be proud of our airwaves.    
19               Thank you very much.                     
20               (Applause)                               
21               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you,               
22   Reverend Jackson.                                    
0114
 1               Mr. Schwartzman.                         
 2               ANDREW SCHWARTZMAN:  Thank you.  For     
 3   more than 30 years I've sat on panels such as this.  
 4   During that time I've heard the testimony of scores  
 5   of talented, dedicated commercial broadcasters who   
 6   have provided meaningful service to their local      
 7   communities and few, if any, are more committed to   
 8   public service than my friend Jim Goodmon.  My       
 9   testimony today is not about those broadcasters.     
10               It is about the much larger number of    
11   broadcasters who do little or nothing to address the 
12   problems, needs and interests of the community       
13   they're required to serve.  It's not about Channel 7 
14   in San Diego, it's about the several television      
15   stations in San Diego that have no local originating 
16   capacity whatsoever and did absolutely nothing to    
17   change their programming during the same time that   
18   Channel 7 was taking, stepping up and taking care of 
19   the job.                                             
20               They are never invited to appear by the  
21   NAB or by the Commission.  They are the ones who     
22   should be called upon to explain why they lack any   
0115
 1   original local programming other than                
 2   advertisements.  They should be asked how they merit 
 3   a free license for exclusive use of scarce,          
 4   publicly-owned spectrum when they don't provide      
 5   something, anything designed to serve the public     
 6   interest as opposed to their own private interests.  
 7               Indeed, although I hope this will soon   
 8   change, as of now the Commission's policy is that    
 9   radio or TV stations carrying commercials or home    
10   shopping 24 hours a day are presumed to be operating 
11   in the public interest.                              
12               Sadly, in the wake of the 1996           
13   Telecommunications Act and the consequent growth of  
14   large regional and national ownership groups, the    
15   number of broadcasters like Jim Goodmon is           
16   diminishing and the number of mediocre broadcasters  
17   is increasing.                                       
18               Now locally-originated news and public   
19   affairs is but one important measure of commitment   
20   to local public service.  There are about 1,400 full 
21   powered commercial TVs and another 5 or 600          
22   Class As.  According to the (inaudible) less than    
0116
Page 42
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 1   800 of those 2,000 television stations originate     
 2   newscasts.  2,000 minus 800 is 1,200.  How can the   
 3   Commission possibly make the statutorily mandated    
 4   determination that those 1,200 stations are operated 
 5   in the public interest?  It's even worse with radio. 
 6               I notice the NAB had no presentation     
 7   about radio in San Diego, that's because the public  
 8   service in San Diego is provided by KPBS, a          
 9   non-commercial broadcaster.  Most of the local radio 
10   stations in San Diego had to carry the KPBS feed     
11   because they had no capacity to assist their         
12   community during the time of emergency.              
13               Thousands of stations do little or       
14   nothing and thousands of more outsourced their news  
15   gathering to a single company which carries          
16   essentially identical newscasts on scores of         
17   stations.  One company alone, Metro Networks, which  
18   is owned by Viacom, itself a group owner, provides   
19   newscasts for more than 2,000 of the nation's radio  
20   stations.  Where is the diversity viewpoint in that? 
21               Technologies marketed with such names as 
22   voice casting and central casting are used to cover  
0117
 1   up the fact that many broadcasters export            
 2   programming into local stations rather than create   
 3   it by site.  Such stations are run by senior         
 4   management and program executives located hundreds   
 5   or thousands of miles away.  This would be a much    
 6   more useful hearing if the Commission were to invite 
 7   or, if necessary, compel the testimony of those      
 8   licensees.                                           
 9               How and why do these stations get their  
10   licenses renewed.  It can't be because they carry    
11   public service announcements when they can't sell    
12   the air time, or maybe it can, I'd like to know.  So 
13   would millions of American citizens.  After all,     
14   protection of their rights to receive information is 
15   and ought to be the primary goal of the Commission's 
16   regulatory system.                                   
17               What should the Commission do about      
18   this.  Unless the Commission has answers for these   
19   questions, it cannot complete this localism inquiry  
20   and these are matters the Commission ought to        
21   address before and not after it contemplates further 
22   relaxation of its broadcast ownership rules.         
0118
 1               That having been said, here's a list of  
 2   things the Commission could do to start fixing the   
 3   problem.  First, develop a meaningful and much more  
 4   transparent license renewal process based on much    
 5   more detailed information about broadcasters actual  
 6   program practices.  That order is on the 8th floor   
 7   and it's, ought to be voted on, you know who you     
 8   are.                                                 
 9               Reduce the term of broadcast licenses to 
10   three years.  Require every single licensee to carry 
11   minimum amounts of locally-originated                
12   licensee-produced programming designed to address    
13   local needs, tastes and interests.  Expand the       
14   number and range of low power FM stations, and       
15   develop meaningful programs to develop -- to double  
16   the number of minority.  And female-owned broadcast  
17   stations within the next five years.                 
Page 43
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
18               Now one last point, very special         
19   emphasis, much of my presentation thus far has       
20   focused on increasing the amount of programming      
21   which is responsive to local needs and tastes.       
22               But not everything important can be      
0119
 1   measured.  Effective local service requires          
 2   institutional and personal attachments to the        
 3   community.  It requires a diverse work force that is 
 4   capable of conveying the many different perspectives 
 5   found in each community.  There is no way to         
 6   document the qualitative impact of having a station  
 7   operated locally by individual citizens who live in  
 8   the community and expect to remain there.            
 9               Finally, the intensity of the public's   
10   concern about how broadcasters serve their community 
11   is something the Commission should not and in        
12   practice cannot ignore.  Despite obvious attempts to 
13   minimize public attendance at events such as this,   
14   thousands of Americans have shown up to tell you how 
15   much they care.  Please don't ignore them.           
16               (Applause)                               
17               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you,               
18   Mr. Schwartzman.                                     
19               Mr. Sterling.                            
20               CHRISTOPHER STERLING:  As is evidenced   
21   by the people in this room and the people outside    
22   the building, this is clearly a very healthy process 
0120
 1   and a useful function.                               
 2               I want to make three points very briefly 
 3   this morning.  First, I think it's fascinating and   
 4   telling that localism issues are of long-standing    
 5   concern.                                             
 6               Localism was among the oldest of the     
 7   goals of radio policy dating all the way back to the 
 8   Department of Commerce in the 1920s.  The FCC single 
 9   market duopoly ownership provisions date at least to 
10   the 1930s and were intended primarily to promote     
11   local service.  Cross-ownership limits, also         
12   designed to strengthen localism, have been debated   
13   at least as long.  Newspapers dominated.  For        
14   example, the earliest FM license applications in     
15   1941 prompted a three-year FCC investigation, though 
16   the present rule is only just over three decades     
17   old.                                                 
18               Station licensing and the renewal        
19   process remains central to promoting and encouraging 
20   localism until both were undone for radio by the     
21   1996 Act and loosened for television in the years    
22   since.                                               
0121
 1               Despite all of this de-regulation, FCC   
 2   Commissioners and staff continually speak of         
 3   localism as a core mission, a concern of what is now 
 4   a dramatically different industry.                   
 5               We've heard lots of examples this        
 6   morning of where localism stands in 2007.  That      
 7   brings me to my second basic point.                  
 8               That is, we have plenty of local         
 9   outlets.  We have far too few voices.  We've enjoyed 
10   a steady increase in channels or outlets from which  
11   to choose.  My students are amazed that I grew up in 
Page 44
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
12   Madison, Wisconsin, a town that then had only four   
13   television stations.  How could I possibly have      
14   survived that and not been scarred for life.         
15               But the plethora of options that we have 
16   today too often add little real diversity in either  
17   content or points of view and provide limited local  
18   programming, let alone news or public affairs or     
19   even much of what former Commissioner Lee Levinger   
20   called the reflection or projection of their local   
21   communities.                                         
22               Too often if a new medium does offer a   
0122
 1   localism potential, such as the drop-in FM channels  
 2   of two decades ago or low powered FM which we've     
 3   already heard a good deal about this morning,        
 4   they're often cut off at the knees by the            
 5   broadcasting establishment, including, surprisingly, 
 6   public radio pleading concerns about interference.   
 7               At the same time we've seen a steady     
 8   decline in the number of media voices or separate    
 9   owners, thanks largely to consolidation.  One reason 
10   has been the demise of the Commission's own once     
11   very close adherence to its duopoly policy of one    
12   station of each type to a customer in a given        
13   market.                                              
14               Another is the growing reliance by both  
15   Congress and the FCC on marketplace competition in   
16   place of the former public service emphasis of many  
17   structural or behavioral broadcast rules and thus    
18   the electronic media, both legacy broadcasting and   
19   the newer cable satellite.  And other services are   
20   now largely all about national content and national  
21   programming and appeal.                              
22               Consolidation of outlets and national    
0123
 1   program production has nearly eliminated any local   
 2   or regional originality.                             
 3               Point number three, can broadcast        
 4   localism be revived?  Yes, but we have to provide    
 5   more than lip service to localism as a core mission, 
 6   to use former Chairman Powell's words, along with    
 7   diversity and competition policy.                    
 8               I've got several quick suggestions,      
 9   though others have suggested them before.  First,    
10   consider taking commercial broadcasters off the      
11   public affairs hook entirely, while at the same time 
12   assisting public radio and television stations to do 
13   that job.                                            
14               Create a public affairs trust, an annual 
15   assessment on commercial stations to support public  
16   affairs programming on public stations.  This would  
17   include news, local political coverage, programming  
18   about local public controversy.  CPB might be the    
19   intermediary to make this work.  In turn, commercial 
20   stations could drop any or all remaining local       
21   public service programming, those that still supply  
22   any.  They might even be given as a new book         
0124
 1   suggests a permanent license as they nearly have one 
 2   already, removable only for good cause.              
 3               Second, if the idea of commercial        
 4   stations helping to fund such programs on public     
 5   stations has no appeal, then revisit proposals for a 
Page 45
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 6   public affairs programming requirement on digital    
 7   radio and especially digital television channels.    
 8               Third, as digital radio becomes more     
 9   widespread, consider requiring one of its side       
10   channels be devoted to local, community and public   
11   affairs content.                                     
12               And fourth, as already noted by others   
13   on this panel, something needs to be done to         
14   increase minority, female and small business         
15   participation in station ownership.                  
16               Finally, notice broadcasters,            
17   themselves, are promoting radio as a local service   
18   in face of competing national programmed options,    
19   even the marketplace professes potential value in    
20   broadcast localism, whether actual programming       
21   reflects that or not.                                
22               Building on all of this, the FCC should  
0125
 1   strive for viable mechanisms to make localism real   
 2   again.                                               
 3               Thank you.                               
 4               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Sterling. 
 5               Mr. Turner.                              
 6               S. DEREK TURNER:  Gentlemen,             
 7   Commissioners, my name is Derek Turner and I'm a     
 8   research director for Free Press, a public interest  
 9   organization dedicated to public education and       
10   consumer advocacy on communications policy.          
11               At the center of this proceeding lies    
12   the basic question, how do FCC rules further the     
13   goals of localism, competition and diversity.  The   
14   record in this proceeding is clear.  Media           
15   consolidation has been a disaster for localism       
16   precisely because increased concentration of         
17   ownership is a disaster for competition and          
18   diversity gutting the few remaining rules is clearly 
19   not in the public interest.                          
20               Now how do we know this?  Because the    
21   Commission's own data tells us.  The Commission's    
22   latest research was born in a biased environment.    
0126
 1   The FCC's former chief economist started by asking   
 2   the question how can the FCC, quote, approach        
 3   relaxing newspaper broadcasts cost ownership         
 4   restrictions, end quote.                             
 5               Now despite this shaky framework, the    
 6   underlying data produced from this research does     
 7   have value.  Using this data and implementing the    
 8   substantive critiques of the peer reviewers, we find 
 9   that, one, though the Commission has claimed that    
10   cross-owned stations do more local news, the FCC's   
11   own data reveal that markets with cross-owned        
12   stations produced less total minutes of local news,  
13   a result that is even more pronounced in smaller     
14   markets.                                             
15               Two, higher levels of local ownership    
16   lead to more legal news at the market level.  Three, 
17   and this is very important, increasing market        
18   concentration decreases the production of local news 
19   at the market level.  That's a very strong effect.   
20               Four, locally-owned so-called big four   
21   affiliates produce more local news than their        
22   non-locally-owned counterparts.                      
Page 46
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
0127
 1               Five, cross-owned stations aired less    
 2   hard local news in the days leading up to the 2006   
 3   local elections.                                     
 4               Now given these results, what possible   
 5   reason would you have for dismantling these          
 6   important ownership rules.  The industry groups will 
 7   tell you that they need to gut these rules because   
 8   their businesses are in poverty, that the Internet   
 9   has changed everything.  This is simply untrue.      
10               The Commission's own data indicates that 
11   outside of the very largest markets there is no      
12   financial benefit from the creation of cross-owned   
13   duopoly combinations.                                
14               As far as the Internet changing          
15   everything, I wish it were true, but it's not.       
16   Overwhelmingly broadcast television and newspapers   
17   continue to be the most relied upon sources of local 
18   news.  This is because they are really the only      
19   entities in local communities that actually produce  
20   local news.                                          
21               Only a small percentage of the public    
22   uses the Internet as their primary source for local  
0128
 1   news and those that do are visiting the Websites of  
 2   their local broadcasters and newspapers.             
 3               Now over the long-term the Internet does 
 4   present a challenge to the current business models   
 5   of the traditional media companies, but it also      
 6   presents an opportunity.  There will always be a     
 7   market for local news and broadcasters and           
 8   newspapers are the company's best suited to meet     
 9   that demand.                                         
10               There's no evidence to suggest that      
11   consolidation is the answer to the challenges that   
12   traditional media may face.  In fact, history        
13   suggests that consolidation will hurt these          
14   companies in the long run.                           
15               When companies consolidate, they cut     
16   newsroom staffing budgets which devastates local     
17   journalism and turns away their local customers.     
18               Now, let's turn to the critical issue of 
19   female and minority ownership.  Here the record is   
20   quite clear, increased media consolidation will      
21   result in fewer stations owned by women and people   
22   of color.  This is because these owners are more     
0129
 1   likely to own just a single station and are more     
 2   likely to be local owners, the precise               
 3   characteristics of station owners who are most       
 4   vulnerable to the pressures of media consolidation.  
 5               Now we know this because my              
 6   organization, Free Press, actually did the hard work 
 7   of assessing the race, ethnicity and gender of the   
 8   owners of our nation's broadcast stations.  However, 
 9   in the Commission's most recent effort to count      
10   female minority-owned stations, it failed miserably. 
11               Study two missed 67 percent of all       
12   minority-owned TV stations and a whopping 75 percent 
13   of the TV stations owned by women.  This record      
14   (inaudible) is pervasive throughout most of the      
15   10 studies.                                          
16               For example, study one, the taxpayer     
Page 47
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
17   funded survey of peoples media habits neglected to   
18   include in its demographic question a category for   
19   Latinos.  That's right, our nation's largest and     
20   fastest growing minority group simply forgotten.     
21               The Communications Act established this  
22   Commission to serve the public interest.  You can    
0130
 1   have proceedings and hold hearings like these in     
 2   order to get you the evidence that you need to make  
 3   decisions that actually do serve the public          
 4   interest.  You have a duty to pay attention to the   
 5   record and to the people.                            
 6               You are faced with a choice, you can     
 7   listen to the concerns of Wall Street or you can     
 8   listen to the concerns of Main Street.  The public   
 9   is tired of these companies using our airwaves as    
10   their personal ATMs.  They want you to say no to     
11   more consolidation and say yes to local              
12   accountability, yes to diversity and ownership and   
13   yes to the public interests.                         
14               Commissioners, for the sake of our great 
15   nation's democracy, I hope you're listening.         
16               Thank you.                               
17               (Applause)                               
18               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Turner.   
19               Mr. Cooper.                              
20               MARK COOPER:  Thank you.  Mr. Chairman,  
21   members of the Commission, Derek told you what you   
22   did not do.  I'm going to talk about what you should 
0131
 1   do and what the broadcast and localism initiative    
 2   will do.                                             
 3               The broadcast localism initiative was,   
 4   in fact, an important policy shift at the FCC.       
 5   Under its auspices the public filed comments and     
 6   came to hearings like this for a couple of years.    
 7   The Media Bureau developed a firm theoretical        
 8   framework for explaining why more than simple        
 9   economics is needed to promote localism in the       
10   public interest.  It explored a rich, multifaceted   
11   definition of localism and began to conduct research 
12   that would evaluate localism in an honest and        
13   straightforward way.                                 
14               Unfortunately, despite the fanfare of an 
15   initiative that was, quote, to play a critical role  
16   in gathering empirical data and grass-roots          
17   information on localism, the initiative simply       
18   disappeared from the recent research studies.        
19               It was supposed to inform the            
20   Commission's thinking about media policy.  Its       
21   finding should have been presented to the public and 
22   the Commission in an independent report that could   
0132
 1   be considered as we crafted our media policy going   
 2   forward.  It should not disappear into a thousand    
 3   footnotes in a final order on media ownership.       
 4               If the Commission were to give the       
 5   broadcast localism initiative its due, it would find 
 6   that the challenges to localism are great and        
 7   relaxing ownership limits will make it harder to     
 8   achieve the goal of a broadcast media that is truly  
 9   responsive to the needs of the public.               
10               That is what the initiative was finding  
Page 48
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
11   before it was disappeared.                           
12               It identified a half dozen specific      
13   economic, social and political factors that indicate 
14   market forces alone will not produce adequate        
15   localism in the broadcast media to serve societies   
16   needs.  The Media Bureau identified three broad      
17   categories of concern.  The notice of inquiry had    
18   nine major areas of concern.  Combining these, we    
19   find 24 specific localism issues across five         
20   categories.                                          
21               The list is worth reading because it was 
22   simply ignored in the 10 studies that the Commission 
0133
 1   actually conducted.                                  
 2               Under coverage of local affairs we find  
 3   community news, including police, traffic, weather   
 4   and sports, emergencies and events, education about  
 5   local institutions, local religious affairs, local   
 6   advertising and PSAs, we hear a lot about PSAs.      
 7               Under sensitivity to local taste we find 
 8   what do listeners want, how to avoid offense to      
 9   community values, how do we tailor programming to    
10   local tastes.                                        
11               Under opportunity for local involvement  
12   we find local ownership and control, use of local    
13   resources, working in the industry,                  
14   locally-originated programming and outlets for local 
15   talent.  We hear none of that in these studies.      
16               Under facilitation of local political    
17   discourse, we find public affairs programming, local 
18   public affairs programming, expression of group      
19   interests, community political and religious group   
20   discussions, local political viewpoints expressed,   
21   local call-in and talk shows, public access and      
22   editorializing.                                      
0134
 1               Under competition issues, we have a few  
 2   of critical importance, pay lists, payola affiliates 
 3   and children's programming.                          
 4               Each of these issues must be considered  
 5   from both the localism point of view and the point   
 6   of view of minorities.  Thus, a parallel set of      
 7   minority or underserved communities, as the notice   
 8   of inquiry said, would include the following, is     
 9   there minority-targeted programming and              
10   minority-originated programming that is sensitive to 
11   local minority interests.                            
12               Does the media provide opportunities for 
13   minority ownership and control of outlets, minority  
14   employment in the media, use of minority talent,     
15   minority group expression and representation of      
16   minority group issues in a fair and balanced manner. 
17               Almost none of these issues were         
18   addressed in the recent round of research.  Until    
19   the Commission provides a detailed analysis of the   
20   impact of ownership limits on localism and diversity 
21   and gives the public and policymakers ample time to  
22   consider these findings, it should not issue a final 
0135
 1   rule on media ownership.                             
 2               Simply rolling all of this into one      
 3   humongous order would do a disservice to the good    
 4   and hard work that went into the localism initiative 
Page 49
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 5   and put us back at square one, with an order that    
 6   does not reflect the policy goals of promoting       
 7   localism and diversity in the media.                 
 8               You simply cannot solve the deficit of   
 9   localism and diversity without addressing and        
10   reversing its decline at the core of the broadcast   
11   industry in order to promote the localism and        
12   diversity in the media.                              
13               Thank you.                               
14               (Applause).                              
15               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Cooper.   
16               KEVIN MARTIN:  I think a few             
17   Commissioners have questions.                        
18               Commissioner Copps.                      
19               MICHAEL COPPS:  Yeah, thank you          
20   everybody for very informative and helpful and often 
21   eloquent statements.                                 
22               I just want to key in very quickly on    
0136
 1   something Mr. Turner said because I think you may    
 2   have really dropped a bombshell here with regard to  
 3   the interests in newspaper broadcasts                
 4   cross-ownership.                                     
 5               Am I understanding you correctly to say  
 6   that your data shows that in those markets where     
 7   there is newspaper broadcast cross-ownership, that   
 8   there is actually less local news?                   
 9               S. DEREK TURNER:  Well that's -- I --    
10               UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Hold on, I'm      
11   sorry, I think you said it wasn't your data, it was  
12   our data?                                            
13               S. DEREK TURNER:  That's right.  Three   
14   of the 10 studies did deal with this issue, however  
15   none of them asked the appropriate question of what  
16   happens to news at the market level because simple   
17   economic theory predicts that a cross-owned station  
18   may be able to take advantage of its synergies,      
19   which will discourage our stations from actually     
20   producing local news, so not only do you have a      
21   lapse of a unique local voice, now you're pushing    
22   the other owners away from doing local news, so we   
0137
 1   actually aggregated your data up to the market level 
 2   and applied the methodologies that were used across  
 3   all the studies.  So it's not that we're tinkering   
 4   with the data, and it's very clear what it shows,    
 5   that you do see a negative effect at the market      
 6   level.                                               
 7               MICHAEL COPPS:  Fine, thank you.         
 8               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  I just wanted to    
 9   observe that Henry Shelton from the NAACP couldn't   
10   be here but I'd like to ask that his testimony be    
11   submitted for the record.                            
12               KEVIN MARTIN:  Oh, of course, of course. 
13               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  There's no          
14   objection to that?                                   
15               KEVIN MARTIN:  I've got a, go ahead.     
16               JONATHAN ADELSTEIN:  I just wanted to    
17   thank you, I thought that was quite profound, myself 
18   that, in fact, in cross-owned communities, that      
19   there's actually less news and that comes from our   
20   data.                                                
21               So you think that's because of the, the  
Page 50
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
22   effect in the marketplace of that, sort of as a      
0138
 1   dominant new news source that other stations can't   
 2   get a hold or just give up on local news entirely?   
 3               S. DEREK TURNER:  Well that's correct, I 
 4   mean as you can easily imagine the situation where   
 5   now most news stations sort of take their cue from   
 6   the daily newspaper, they open it up, they read      
 7   what's in there.                                     
 8               With a cross-owned situation, you may    
 9   find that they're only giving their reporters access 
10   to the station they own.  All the other stations are 
11   sort of cut off from talking to the other reporters  
12   from getting inside scoops and so they throw up      
13   their hands in the air and say, well, I guess we'll  
14   just do more syndicated programming because we can   
15   no longer compete adequately, so, that's the affect  
16   that we're seeing.                                   
17               KEVIN MARTIN:  Mark, you look like --    
18               MARK COOPER:  There's actually other     
19   data in the record, an academic study which looked   
20   at what happens when the New York Times moves into a 
21   local community and what they found in that study,   
22   it's one of the reviewers actually of the peer       
0139
 1   reviewers, Lisa George is the principal author,      
 2   George Wolfolk is the second author.                 
 3               What they found is that that newspaper   
 4   grabs a certain segment of the audience that moves   
 5   away from the local newspaper and the local          
 6   newspaper's re-orient themselves away from a certain 
 7   type of coverage and the fascinating thing was that  
 8   they found that electoral turn out, which is the     
 9   bottom line of democracy, went down in local         
10   elections because the newspapers have moved away     
11   from a specific type of news and lost that audience, 
12   but was unaffected in national elections which of    
13   course is what the New York Times is serving.        
14               So there's good solid evidence that of   
15   this, what you should call a crowding out effect is  
16   when you get a dominant entity in this, in a         
17   marketplace, it crowds out the others and none of    
18   the -- interestingly, one of the radio studies asked 
19   that question, but none of the TV studies actually   
20   looked at the effect at the market level, which is   
21   what the public policy is about.                     
22               KEVIN MARTIN:  So, Derek, I just want to 
0140
 1   make sure I understand your point, I mean I think I  
 2   do, but what you're saying is that so even when a    
 3   cross-owned station in a market produces more, even  
 4   if they produce more local news, in the whole market 
 5   itself when you look at everyone else, they're       
 6   actually doing less on their local news because of   
 7   the impact of what that cross-ownership is, is that  
 8   what, I think that's what you said.                  
 9               S. DEREK TURNER:  That's the net effect  
10   and you have to realize that we're talking sort of   
11   econometrics here so we're controlling for           
12   everything under the sun and trying to actually      
13   isolate the effect of cross-ownership.  And I would  
14   not actually concede that the cross-owned stations   
15   do more local news because the one study that        
Page 51
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
16   actually looked at it, the only effect they really   
17   found was during the lead up to the election they    
18   may have been doing slightly more sports and         
19   weather, but not political coverage.                 
20               KEVIN MARTIN:  What I was saying,        
21   though, even if you assume they did, that wasn't,    
22   the whole market was still harmed is what I was      
0141
 1   saying, so even, whether, whether the other study    
 2   showed that or not, that's what I think your point   
 3   was.                                                 
 4               S. DEREK TURNER:  Right.                 
 5               KEVIN MARTIN:  You, I had a couple other 
 6   quick follow-ups, you also said that outside of the  
 7   very largest markets there's no benefit on the       
 8   duopoly issue, can you tell me what you mean by very 
 9   largest, what is very largest to you?                
10               S. DEREK TURNER:  Well when you, so we   
11   had data on financial, data for financials for every 
12   single station in all the nation's 210 markets, you  
13   do see a positive effect when the New York DMA is    
14   included and the Los Angeles DMA is included.  You   
15   do see a positive effect on the revenues of duopoly  
16   stations and cross-owned stations.                   
17               However, if you exclude those from the   
18   analysis, you see no effect and, in fact, if you     
19   look specifically at markets that are, have very few 
20   voices, you actually start to see a negative effect  
21   on the bottom duopoly station.                       
22               KEVIN MARTIN:  Sure, I wanted to, in     
0142
 1   light of following, in light of that answer about    
 2   the very largest stations, New York and LA, for      
 3   example, actually I wanted to ask Reverend Jackson   
 4   because we were talking about this right before we   
 5   started and actually Bob Edwards I think you         
 6   mentioned even the impact on Chicago, could you all  
 7   tell me, do you think that there's any difference    
 8   that we should be making between the largest markets 
 9   and when we're talking about cross-ownership issues  
10   or ownership issues.                                 
11               So do you think that there's still a     
12   problem with cross-ownership in large markets like   
13   Los Angeles?  Reverend Jackson or Bob Edwards, you   
14   were talking about Chicago and the negative impact   
15   that happened there.                                 
16               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  Of course it is.    
17   We, we live in a pleasuristic democracy.  The reason 
18   I ask and I hope you consider it even now,           
19   independent bipartisan minority ownership task force 
20   so that you can pull all of this together and kind   
21   of hear us collectively, come up with some plan is   
22   that the cross-ownership monopoly lends us -- you    
0143
 1   know, there are so many good journalists who have    
 2   now been reduced to PR workers for a corporation.    
 3   They can't get a job, they're locked out.  Their     
 4   voices are locked out.  Many of the largest          
 5   (inaudible) majority are black and Latino.  That's   
 6   the (inaudible) back to reality of our nation and    
 7   there must be some consideration in the marketplace  
 8   of that diversity.                                   
 9               You know, they're fighting a war right   
Page 52
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
10   now in Iraq.  You know (inaudible) have more Sheite  
11   concentrated ownership at the expense of             
12   (inaudible).                                         
13                Reason for democracy means some shared  
14   participation, that Sheites and Kurds should own     
15   access to (inaudible) constitutional positions       
16   because you just can't (inaudible) monopolizing      
17   everything by ethnicity or by, shared by money and   
18   power.  So let's take a lesson from our own          
19   (inaudible) by the (inaudible) for democracy.        
20               KEVIN MARTIN:  So, and I just wanted to  
21   make sure, so you, like you said, you think that's   
22   the same even in those largest markets, there's no   
0144
 1   distinction that we should be making and that we     
 2   may, we end up doing is even for those big places?   
 3               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  I guess the real    
 4   bottom line remains that too few people, whether     
 5   New York, Chicago, LA (inaudible) part of controls   
 6   or radio, TV and newspaper, their own publishers who 
 7   affect editors who affect writers who affect         
 8   assignments who affect outcomes, that's absolute     
 9   control.                                             
10               Let me give you, just an example of what 
11   happened this past week.  There was a lot of         
12   excitement because a young man, Genaldo Wilson, had  
13   been set free in Georgia, a kind of jaded justice    
14   and it finally became nationally permanent.  On the  
15   same day a reporter in Seattle, Washington, in 1944, 
16   there was a fight on the, at the Lorton Military     
17   Base and, let's just say it was a riot, and a young  
18   Italian (inaudible) deputy was killed, some said     
19   killed, some say committed suicide, but the          
20   (inaudible) Watergate fame had all the black         
21   soldiers condemned, court marshalled, jailed and     
22   given dishonorable discharges.  They were wiped out, 
0145
 1   came out in last Sunday's New York Times newspaper.  
 2               It came out that Mr. Watson withheld     
 3   information, much like they did in north (inaudible) 
 4   a few months ago, but the outcome is these men lived 
 5   six years without their honorable discharge, most of 
 6   them died, except one, Mr. Sam (inaudible) is alive, 
 7   he's 83 years old, I recall he said, you know, we    
 8   never did it.  I was not even on the scene.  He      
 9   start crying on the phone.  I called several         
10   military executives about this story who says it's   
11   old news, what's, what's the deal there.  They're    
12   dead and he's old and (inaudible) was a hero,        
13   (inaudible) there was no news in connecting with     
14   having those (inaudible) soldiers in the American    
15   war in '44 to (inaudible) jaded justice.             
16               Well that may not have been of interest  
17   to a handful of people in New York, but the last     
18   seven Americans, our honor is at stake, our          
19   Patriotism is at stake, yet it's not been on TV yet, 
20   not a one.  (Inaudible) there's nothing New York     
21   Times Sunday morning headlines, not on one TV        
22   station yet.                                         
0146
 1               KEVIN MARTIN:  Andy, I had one quick     
 2   question for you, did you, did you actually say, I   
 3   just want to make sure I heard you that the          
Page 53
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 4   commercial radio stations in San Diego were having   
 5   to carry the non-commercial feed because they didn't 
 6   have anything local for their news there?  I mean I  
 7   thought that's what you said.                        
 8               ANDREW SCHWARTZMAN:  Yes, the principal  
 9   radio service in San Diego during the emergency was  
10   KPBS.  There's almost no local origination capacity  
11   in the market.                                       
12               KEVIN MARTIN:  Yes.  Unless there was,   
13   unless there was anything else, I think that we were 
14   going to, again, thank all the panelists for         
15   participating today and open up, open up the public  
16   comment.                                             
17               (Applause)                               
18               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  Will you still      
19   consider our appeal for the independent minority     
20   ownership panel?                                     
21               KEVIN MARTIN:  What's that?              
22               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  I'd like you to     
0147
 1   consider, I'd like you to consider the independent   
 2   minority, proposed independent minority owned,       
 3   minority panel ownership.                            
 4               KEVIN MARTIN:  You know, yes, and we'll  
 5   continue to said, what I've said all along is I      
 6   actually, I don't have any problem with any kind of  
 7   panel to be able to make recommendations to the      
 8   Commission, although I don't think that should stop  
 9   us from proceeding on issues that we have in front   
10   of us, whether it's on issues that can end up        
11   helping on some of the localism issues, whether it's 
12   on issues related to changes to low powered FM or    
13   potentially on some of the ownership issues, so that 
14   I think we're still debating among the               
15   Commissioners.                                       
16               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  Yeah, I'm saying    
17   how quickly we pull together to support it and then  
18   if it is, if it's doing this work, it did have it    
19   completed when this comes back with this report and  
20   will you address it in a meaningful way?             
21               KEVIN MARTIN:  Oh, I think that we would 
22   always, yes, I think we would address it in a        
0148
 1   meaningful way.  I think so.                         
 2               REV. JESSE JACKSON:  How quickly will    
 3   you do that?  I'm asking, I'm trying, the Commission 
 4   needs to be at work pretty quickly and then get back 
 5   to you before we shouldn't be meeting, if you will,  
 6   and then a conclusion reached while we're still,     
 7   while it's still outstanding.                        
 8               KEVIN MARTIN:  Well I think that the, I  
 9   don't think that necessarily any groups that want to 
10   make any recommendations can end up preventing the   
11   Commission from moving forward as it ends up seeing  
12   fit on a variety of issues, but I think that we      
13   would always end up taking serious action, taking    
14   serious action and take seriously the                
15   recommendations that would end up coming in, so.     
16               But the, but, again, I think I           
17   appreciate everyone's participation and I think that 
18   we do need to open it up to public comment for a few 
19   hours.                                               
20               Thank you.                               
Page 54
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
21               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much,     
22   fellows.                                             
0149
 1               UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Excuse me,        
 2   Mr. Martin, who picked the panel and why were there  
 3   so few women?  Where were all the women on the       
 4   panel, sir?                                          
 5               LOUIS SIGALOS:  The public comment       
 6   period will open in just a moment.  I will remind    
 7   everyone and I want to tell everyone as we           
 8   transition to the public comment period, I need to   
 9   recognize a few representatives of organizations     
10   that we would have liked to have included on the     
11   panel but due to space and time limitations, we      
12   could not.                                           
13               Just as for all members of the audience  
14   who have signed up to speak to the Commissioners,    
15   each of these individuals will be limited to two     
16   minutes.                                             
17               After the transition a little bit here,  
18   we'll get started with a few of these special        
19   speakers and then join, begin the public comment     
20   list.                                                
21               Would everyone please be seated at this  
22   time.  We want to begin with the public comment      
0150
 1   period.  Again, due to time and space limitations on 
 2   the panel, there was a few people we'd like to       
 3   recognize initially before we begin with the public  
 4   commentors, those people are Joe Torrez who was to   
 5   be speaking on behalf of the National Hispanic Media 
 6   Coalition, George Tedesci with the International     
 7   Brotherhood of Teamsters and Mike Wassenaur for the  
 8   Alliance for Community Media.                        
 9               These people, if you would step forward, 
10   will have two minutes each.                          
11               I'd like to have everybody notice we do  
12   have a timer clock there that I'll be strictly       
13   enforcing the time limit on the speakers at this     
14   point, so I would request that Joe Torrez.           
15   Mr. Torrez, thank you.                               
16               JOE TORREZ:  Good afternoon, my name is  
17   Joe Torrez, Government relations manager for Free    
18   Press, and I read this statement on behalf of the    
19   National Hispanic Media Coalition.                   
20               The National Hispanic Media Coalition, a 
21   21-year-old non-profit Latino civil rights media     
22   advocacy organization based in Los Angeles,          
0151
 1   California, whose goals include increasing Latino    
 2   ownership in the media.                              
 3               Today the FCC is discussing the issue of 
 4   localism.  For the National Hispanic Media           
 5   Coalition, the issue is the lack of minority media   
 6   ownership.  It is an outrage that FCC Chairman Kevin 
 7   Martin reportedly seeks a vote in December on        
 8   eliminating the media ownership limits when the FCC  
 9   is unable to accurately assess the true state of     
10   female and minority broadcast ownership.             
11                In its entire history, the FCC has      
12   never accurately kept track of women and minority    
13   broadcast ownership, even the most recent studies in 
14   July failed to count this important data.  In fact,  
Page 55
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
15   commentors hired by the Commission to study the      
16   problem were unable to do so because the data        
17   provided to them was, quote, useless.                
18               Without minority and women ownership     
19   data, it is impossible to have an adequate           
20   understanding of how different policies governing    
21   media ownership in general would impact minority     
22   ownership specifically.                              
0152
 1               We do, however, have some data regarding 
 2   minority and women ownership thanks to our media     
 3   ally Free Press.  They are as equally concerned      
 4   about the lack of diversity and ownership in the     
 5   media.                                               
 6               Two important studies from Free Press,   
 7   Out of The Picture and Off the Dial, is to           
 8   demonstrate the, illustrate the alarming state of    
 9   female and minority ownership, the alarming state of 
10   female minority ownership.                           
11               In respect to the Latino community, the  
12   first study finds that only 1.1 percent of all full  
13   powered commercial television stations are owned by  
14   Latinos.  The second report on radio documents that  
15   Latinos own just 2.9 percent of full power           
16   commercial radio stations.  These statistics are     
17   unacceptable.                                        
18               Both studies confirm that relaxing the   
19   ownership rules will cause a further decline in      
20   female minority ownership.  How far do we have to go 
21   before the FCC stops neglecting the issue of         
22   minority, of the -- neglecting the media diversity   
0153
 1   crisis?                                              
 2               We join FCC Commissioner Jonathan        
 3   Adelstein who has called for an independent          
 4   non-partisan task force to address the minority      
 5   media crisis.                                        
 6               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 7               JOE TORREZ:  But basically he has called 
 8   for an independent task force and not to move        
 9   forward with the rules until the work of the task    
10   force is completed.                                  
11               Thank you.                               
12               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you, Mr. Torrez.   
13               Go ahead, please.                        
14               GEORGE TEDESCI:  Good morning, I am      
15   George Tedesci, I am vice president of the           
16   International Brotherhood of Teamsters and president 
17   of the Union's graphic communications conference     
18   representing 60,000 employees, 2,000 are tribune     
19   workers in Chicago, New York, Baltimore and LA.      
20               The Teamsters have submitted comments to 
21   the FCC about our localism and diversity concerns.   
22   I am here today to urge the FCC to not be too quick  
0154
 1   to grant the tribune application.  This would        
 2   violate FCC rules and policies.                      
 3               Section 310D of FCC rules forbids a      
 4   broadcast licensee from giving third parties control 
 5   over stations, personnel, programming and finances.  
 6   The owners of a station must be the ones who have    
 7   ultimate management responsibilities.                
 8               The tribune's Zell's transactions calls  
Page 56
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 9   these rules into question.  Sam Zell clearly would   
10   control the tribune as Chairman of the Board, but    
11   would not be an owner.  The trust establishment for  
12   the benefit of Zell's family would hold notes and    
13   warrants, but neither Zell nor his family's trust    
14   would be owners of the tribune stock.  The real      
15   owners of the tribune company would be the tribune's 
16   employees through an ESOP.  The employees hold 100   
17   percent of the tribune's stock, but as proposed, the 
18   employees will have no role in the selection of the  
19   tribune's directors to establish company policy and  
20   appoint the officers who run the company and will    
21   have no opportunity or ability to select or replace  
22   the tribune ESOP trustee who votes all the plan      
0155
 1   stock.                                               
 2               This separation of ownership and         
 3   management is unprecedented and would set a new,     
 4   very low standard for compliance with the Act's      
 5   public interest requirements, which are for the      
 6   localism and diversity principles in broadcasting.   
 7               Thank you.                               
 8               (Applause)                               
 9               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
10               Mr. Wassenaur.                           
11               MIKE WASSENAUR:  Good afternoon,         
12   Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, my name is Mike         
13   Wassenaur, I'm the national chair of the Alliance    
14   for Community Media and the executive director of    
15   the St. Paul Neighborhood Network in St. Paul,       
16   Minnesota.                                           
17               Localism lies at the heart of the work   
18   we do across the country.  At community access       
19   television city, centers, we work with community     
20   groups and independent producers that use our        
21   training and production facilities and cable         
22   channels to reflect the concerns of their community  
0156
 1   and to help educate their fellow citizens.           
 2               Most importantly for these hearings,     
 3   they come to us because they have little or no       
 4   access to significant community forums on local      
 5   broadcast outlets.                                   
 6               For example, in Minneapolis, St. Paul,   
 7   there's a population of 60,000 Somali Americans who  
 8   have made their community our community since being  
 9   displaced by wars in East Africa.  This is a         
10   community with many significant educational and      
11   economic needs.  Local access television has         
12   responded to those needs by supporting               
13   10 regularly-produced TV series on vocational        
14   training, acculturated, health education and other   
15   topics of vital importance to our entire community.  
16               These programs provide approximately     
17   20 hours of programming a week by, for and about the 
18   Somali American community.                           
19               Just as significantly, local broadcast   
20   outlets have failed to address those information     
21   needs of those citizens because the community is not 
22   deemed to be a viable market.                        
0157
 1               When they have made an effort as in the  
 2   case of the laudable efforts of our local PBS        
Page 57
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 3   affiliate, they have relied ironically upon          
 4   producers and programming from community-accessed    
 5   television.  This is one small example of why we     
 6   believe that local needs are important, are in many  
 7   ways unaddressed by local television.                
 8               Our concerns as we look at the future    
 9   landscape of media production and distribution in    
10   the United States is that the significant remaining  
11   local outlet, community access television will be    
12   weakened or eliminated as a result of administrative 
13   rule-makings on franchising in many of the           
14   localities around the United States.                 
15               This only heightens the need for         
16   significant action on your part to ensure that local 
17   television addresses more than the entertainment     
18   needs of the people.                                 
19               Thank you.                               
20               (Applause)                               
21               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
22               Okay, now it's time for the public       
0158
 1   comment portion of the program.                      
 2               Before I review the ground rules, would  
 3   the following people please make your way to one of  
 4   the two closest aisle microphones, there's one there 
 5   and there's one right there.  Carolyn Byerly, Kevin  
 6   McCarron, James Coleman, Kate Blofson, Sarah         
 7   Sieberberg, Dylan Wrynn, Bruce Levinson and Nedia    
 8   Benjamin.                                            
 9               Okay, the time limit is two minutes for  
10   each speaker.  Please organize your thoughts so you  
11   can get your important points through within that    
12   time frame.  Again, we have those two microphones    
13   set up, I've called a number of people just so that  
14   we can move quickly from person to person.           
15               Remember, we have the time clock there   
16   and I'm going in the order that you registered and   
17   from time to time I'll let you know where we are on  
18   that list.                                           
19               Having said all that, Carolyn Byerly.    
20               CAROLYN BYERLY:  Thank you very much.    
21   Chairman Martin, members of the Commission, I'm very 
22   pleased to be here today.  My name is Carolyn Byerly 
0159
 1   and I'm a member of the Howard University Department 
 2   of, School of Communications.  I conduct research on 
 3   women and minority ownership and on the ethnic       
 4   minority news audience, among other things.          
 5               Our nation has before it both a civil    
 6   rights and a women's rights crisis in media          
 7   ownership.  Our failed Federal communications policy 
 8   has enabled those with great wealth and power to buy 
 9   and control more than 90 percent of our public       
10   airwaves.  These powerful owners have a narrow       
11   demographic, they are nearly all male and they are   
12   white.                                               
13               The predicament of gender and racial     
14   inequality in ownership is discriminatory on its     
15   face.  Let me share with you some of the effects at  
16   the local level.  In research that we conducted in   
17   Washington, D.C., last year, in a variety of         
18   neighborhoods, residents told us that they believe   
19   local television news ignores the things that they   
Page 58
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
20   most want to know about.                             
21               These things include neighborhood        
22   redevelopment, lack of jobs, lack of health care for 
0160
 1   themselves and their families and public safety.     
 2               They want to know about crime, yes, but  
 3   they want to know why there is so much crime and     
 4   they want to know what's being done about it and     
 5   they want more visibility for the things they know   
 6   full well are going on in their neighborhoods to     
 7   address it.                                          
 8               We also found that black radio listeners 
 9   prefer African-American controlled stations.  They   
10   told us these stations, quote, know what's going on  
11   and, quote, tell me the truth.                       
12               My current research on women broadcast   
13   owners is still underway, but two early findings are 
14   worth sharing with you today.  First, women owners   
15   emphasize that they are committed to providing local 
16   news, thus, we conclude that women's ownership       
17   fulfills an essential local public interest.         
18               Second, women owners say that they       
19   strive to hire and mentor other women.  We conclude  
20   that preserving women's ownership is vital to giving 
21   other women entree into the industry.                
22               Thank you very much.  I strongly urge    
0161
 1   you not to further de-regulate this already          
 2   concentrated industry.                               
 3               (Applause).                              
 4               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 5               Kevin McCarron.                          
 6               KEVIN McCARRON:  I'm just, I'm not, I'm  
 7   just representing myself, I'm here today on my own   
 8   time.  Before I came down to D.C., I earned my       
 9   graduate degree in economics up in New England after 
10   a six-year stint in the service.                     
11               My graduate work in economics was to     
12   bring the fundamentals of democracy into the realm   
13   of economics and I want to talk briefly about        
14   democracy in broadcasting.  We all know if you       
15   studied political science that the founding fathers  
16   sought to keep power in check in three ways, three   
17   fundamental ways, at least.                          
18               You know about the checks and balances,  
19   or supposedly the paying between the three different 
20   branches of the Federal Government.  The second way  
21   was to attempt to allow States some powers vis-a-vis 
22   the Federal, in the Federalist system and the third  
0162
 1   way was of course through the 10 amendments limiting 
 2   the power of Government over the citizens, over our  
 3   citizens.                                            
 4               Well the prime and principal of limiting 
 5   power, keeping power in check also applies in        
 6   economics.  This was at the founding of the academic 
 7   discipline.  Anybody with a degree with this knows   
 8   this.                                                
 9               Competition inherent in perfect, in      
10   perfectly competitive markets hopefully was designed 
11   to hopefully prevent individual producers from       
12   escaping the constraints of these free markets and,  
13   thus, thereby commit social injustices.              
Page 59
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
14               Now, this leads directly to              
15   de-regulation of ownership.  The de-regulation media 
16   consolidation threatens the design of free markets   
17   and allows broadcasting corporations to overcome a   
18   system of checks and balances in the economic realm, 
19   same principle.  We need more regulation in media    
20   ownership, not less.  The current consolidation      
21   ownership is bad for democracy and what's bad for    
22   democracy is bad for economics.                      
0163
 1               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 2               James Coleman.                           
 3               JAMES COLEMAN:  Good day to you all.  My 
 4   name is the Reverend Dr. James Coleman.  I'm         
 5   president of the Missionary Baptist Ministers        
 6   Conference of Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia   
 7   vicinity.  And I wish to express sincere gratitude   
 8   for the opportunity to share a clergy perspective on 
 9   the matter of media ownership.                       
10               Respectfully, I must report that our     
11   organization cannot support media consolidation      
12   because such consolidation does not pass the         
13   theological or moral test required for social        
14   justice.                                             
15               As pastors, we wish to note the fact     
16   that women, racial and ethnic minority groups and    
17   people with disabilities historically have been      
18   excluded from or wrongfully stereotyped in the       
19   media.                                               
20               It is the church responsibility to make  
21   the case that God has supplied the airwaves as a     
22   gift to all human kind.  He requires of us to be     
0164
 1   good stewards over the airwaves and ensure that      
 2   media reflect in a balanced fashion the views,       
 3   opinion and ethnic values of all segments of         
 4   society.                                             
 5               As the media systems have increased in   
 6   size over the last few years, media owners have      
 7   become more powerful with the potential for good as  
 8   well as evil.  Our society has become dependent on   
 9   media owners to supply needed information in an      
10   honest, accurate and reliable manner.                
11               However, growing concern is that news    
12   reports are no longer reliable, no longer honest and 
13   it seems news reports have become more entertainment 
14   than serious reporting.  Seemingly some newscasts    
15   sent all across the nation spotlight controversial   
16   and embarrassing circumstances people have           
17   participated in.                                     
18               The personal issue and event is foreign  
19   to what's going on in our particular locality.  News 
20   stories of local communities and our community are   
21   often overlooked for the more sensational            
22   entertaining scripts as we pastors attempt to        
0165
 1   address the sensational and false messages that we   
 2   receive by way of packaged media stories.            
 3               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much.     
 4               JAMES COLEMAN:  And I see my time is up, 
 5   so I --                                              
 6               (Applause)                               
 7               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Kate Blofson.            
Page 60
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 8               KATE BLOFSON:  Hey, Commissioners, hey,  
 9   Chairman Martin, hey everybody.                      
10               (Hey).                                   
11               KATE BLOFSON:  Happy Halloween.  We are  
12   the FCC cheerleaders and we are so totally psyched   
13   to be here today.  I'm sure you guys are really glad 
14   that we made it, too.                                
15               So, me and Sarah got here at like 4 a.m. 
16   this morning and so we're going to go back to back   
17   so we can finish all of our cheers.                  
18               By the way, I really love the music      
19   before the first panelists, like behind the TV       
20   thing, we totally use that same music for one of our 
21   like best ever routines.                             
22               I'd just like to reiterate that we're    
0166
 1   for the FCC, that's why we are the FCC cheerleaders. 
 2   The guards out there seemed to be confused like      
 3   we're here to disrupt something or distract from     
 4   this process.                                        
 5               We are totally for media consolidation,  
 6   okay, and we're here to cheer you on and support you 
 7   110 percent while you give 110 percent of the media  
 8   to big corporations.                                 
 9               So, we've been working really hard since 
10   last Wednesday night to get these cheers down.       
11   Normally we'd have like way more time than that to   
12   like meet and practice and stuff, but I guess we     
13   just heard about it a week ago, so.                  
14               (Us too).                                
15               (Chearleaders).                          
16               Ready, okay.                             
17               Two, four, six, eight, who do we         
18   consolidate, media, media, more media.               
19               KATE BLOFSON:  By the way, that would    
20   have been way better with our pom-poms, they like    
21   took them at security, so.                           
22               One more cheer, let's do it.  All right. 
0167
 1   So --                                                
 2               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 3               KATE BLOFSON:  You're welcome, we're     
 4   going to do our last cheer now, thank you so much    
 5   for the opportunity and you guys are doing a totally 
 6   awesome job.                                         
 7               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Sarah.                   
 8               Sarah Sieberberg, please.                
 9               SARAH SIEBERBERG:  We're doing a cheer.  
10               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Okay, start the clock,   
11   this is Sarah.                                       
12               (Chearleaders).                          
13               Ready, okay.  One million, two million,  
14   three million dollars, all for Clear Channel stand   
15   up and holler, M-O-N-O-P-O-L-Y, monopoly, monopoly   
16   gets us high.                                        
17               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.  I believe    
18   now we are up to Dylan Wrynn.  Yes.                  
19               MICHAEL SHAY:  For personal reasons,     
20   Dylan and I switched positions, I'm Michael Shay, so 
21   I'm going to be in his position, he'll be in mine.   
22   I was 26, I think, so.                               
0168
 1               Could I have two minutes?                
Page 61
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 2               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Yes, please.             
 3               MICHAEL SHAY:  Thank you.  I'm Michael   
 4   Shay from WRYR, the LPFM almost first to ever go on. 
 5   We've been on the air five years out in the          
 6   Chesapeake Bay.  We've been doing localism, we know  
 7   what localism is, but, you know, we, I'm here        
 8   despite the efforts of the National Association of   
 9   Broadcasters and National Public Radio.  And         
10   100 watts is not going to fill the vacuum that is    
11   created by the mega broadcasters that want more of   
12   the spectrum and it really is unbelievable that our  
13   local communities don't have any frequency           
14   available.                                           
15               And I can share with you instance after  
16   instance of the good work that we've been doing in   
17   our community for over five years, but I would like  
18   to share one particular instance that kind of drives 
19   home an amazing point.                               
20               And the NPR players with Susan Sandberg  
21   and Carl Kassell, they do radio theater drama at, in 
22   Easton and, you know, it's our radio station that    
0169
 1   hosts it so that they can call it Radio from         
 2   Downtown.  Without our station, it really wouldn't   
 3   be Radio from Downtown.                              
 4               When I interviewed Susan Sandberg, and   
 5   I've interviewed many people from Presidential       
 6   candidates to very important people in our           
 7   community, and when I told Susan the story about how 
 8   National Public Radio tried to keep my station from  
 9   happening and is still trying to keep other stations 
10   from happening, community radio, she thought I       
11   wasn't telling the truth.  She didn't believe it.    
12   It's an unbelievable story and it's the only         
13   interview that I've ever had anybody walk away from. 
14               You know, the, we have done a study, the 
15   Miter Corporation -- excuse me, my time's up, but    
16   we're going to continue to do good work in our       
17   community.                                           
18               Thank you.                               
19               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much.     
20               Before I announce the next speaker,      
21   would the following people come forward to the       
22   microphones, please, Melanie Campbell, John Arnold,  
0170
 1   Liz Humes, Susan Meehan, Epham Rams and Rosa         
 2   Clemente.                                            
 3               Bruce Levinson.                          
 4               BRUCE LEVINSON:  Bruce Levinson with the 
 5   Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.                 
 6               In the recent data in a recent filing by 
 7   consumers union indicated that the number of full    
 8   powered minority-owned commercial television         
 9   stations has increased by 25 percent between 2000    
10   and 2006, the same time period during which they     
11   stated the consolidation has increased.              
12               There's been an attempt to use the       
13   current issues of localism and minority and female   
14   ownership to try and, to justify ownership caps;     
15   however, there is not reliable data supporting that  
16   connection.  It's actually just the opposite.        
17               Ownership caps decrease the value of the 
18   assets of female- and minority-owned stations.  They 
Page 62
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
19   need those assets to bond against, to investimate    
20   businesses, to improve programming management and to 
21   buy new, to buy additional station properties.       
22               You're not going to help minority and    
0171
 1   female broadcast investors by decreasing the value   
 2   of their assets.  Decreasing station values may      
 3   nominally make other additional people able to buy   
 4   stations, but that's true regardless of gender or    
 5   ethnicity.  It simply opens it up to more white      
 6   males.                                               
 7               Moreover, reducing station values        
 8   discourages investors, it discourages investors of   
 9   every ethnicity.  You need to reduce regulation in   
10   order to make the process more welcoming and more    
11   opening to all investors and potential investors in  
12   the broadcast industry.                              
13               Thank you.                               
14               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
15               Nadia Benjamin.                          
16               SAMANTHA MILLER:  Hi, I'm actually       
17   Samantha Benjamin speaking on behalf of Nadia        
18   Benjamin and Code Pink, Women for Peace.  I'm        
19   dressed today as a corporate media whore because I   
20   feel that our (inaudible) have been sold to the      
21   highest bidder.                                      
22               When the media is consolidated into a    
0172
 1   few profit-driven hands, it is at the cost of our    
 2   democracy.  I belong to a women's peace organization 
 3   called Code Pink that has been working to stop the   
 4   war in Iraq and to prevent a war with Iran.  We      
 5   represent the majority sentiment in this country,    
 6   but one would never know that by turning on the      
 7   news.                                                
 8               Our voices have been completely          
 9   marginalized by the corporate media.  The lack of    
10   diversity of opinions and analysis in the media is a 
11   life and death issue.  The media sold the Iraq war   
12   to the American public which has now cost the lives  
13   of almost 4,000 U.S. troops and over one million     
14   Iraqi civilians, not that you'll ever hear that on   
15   the news.                                            
16               Now they're trying to sell us a war with 
17   Iran, acting as if somehow Iran has made threats     
18   towards us.                                          
19               How can we call ourselves a democracy    
20   when we have a media entirely controlled by large    
21   corporations and often the same corporations         
22   profiting from the war in Iraq.                      
0173
 1               To have a real democracy we must have an 
 2   informed population, we must have true public        
 3   discourse with the diversity of voices in the media. 
 4   The FCC must stop corporations from silencing the    
 5   voices of the people and protect public interest.    
 6   It's time to stop prostituting our airwaves to       
 7   corporations.                                        
 8               (Applause)                               
 9               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
10               Melanie Campbell.                        
11               CAROL JENKINS:  Hi, I'm representing     
12   Melanie Campbell who is not able to make it, I'm     
Page 63
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
13   Carol Jenkins from the Women's Media Center.  We all 
14   belong to a group called Dignity and Diversity.      
15   We've been having phone calls every single Tuesday   
16   morning since the Imus incident took place in April. 
17               So far the group has initiated a         
18   Congressional hearing and is making its effect known 
19   in the world in terms of women of color, diverse     
20   women in the media.                                  
21               Here's the thing, today we witnessed yet 
22   again a scenario where there were 10 men and 2       
0174
 1   women.  There are 4 Commissioners who are male and   
 2   only 1 Commissioner who's a woman.  There's a        
 3   hallway full of Commissioners who are all white men, 
 4   well mostly white men, so that I, the issue that we  
 5   would raise because of the women's media center,     
 6   we're talking about the representation of women in   
 7   the media and we might say, too, at the FCC.         
 8               You have to have diversity more than a   
 9   2 to 10 in terms of expressing the opinions of       
10   what's going to take place with these publicly-owned 
11   airwaves, both television and radio.                 
12               So we would, we still say we are the     
13   invisible majority, more women in the country than   
14   men, we now in mainstream media still occupy only    
15   3 percent of positions of clout and own an           
16   infinitesimal amount of radio stations and           
17   television stations in this country.                 
18               And I think that as you begin to think   
19   about how you present yourself, you are a            
20   representative of mainstream media in the            
21   unfortunate way of not showing women of color, of    
22   not showing women in their true representative state 
0175
 1   in this country and until women are included, you    
 2   have only a part of the story and at this point not  
 3   the most important part of the story of what's       
 4   happening in America.                                
 5               Thank you very much.                     
 6               (Applause).                              
 7               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.  John Arnold. 
 8   John Arnold.                                         
 9               Liz Humes.                               
10               LIZ HUMES:  Hi, I'm Liz Humes and I'm    
11   here to speak on behalf of WRIR LPFM and before I    
12   begin my speech, I have to say that I probably agree 
13   with every single speaker who was up here in support 
14   of localism, but because of time constraints, I'm    
15   here to talk to you about one small aspect of what   
16   LPFM can do for our local communities.  We can save  
17   lives.                                               
18               WRIR LPFM Richmond independent radio and 
19   the City of Richmond, Virginia, have a unique        
20   partnership to work together in times of crisis.  We 
21   have a five-year agreement in which WRIR will        
22   broadcast emergency information and instructions     
0176
 1   from public officials over our airwaves.  I have a   
 2   letter to give to you from our Mayor and Former      
 3   Governor of Virginia, Doug Wilder.                   
 4               I also want to quote this letter when he 
 5   says, "WRIR LPFM is vital to Richmond's response and 
 6   recovery efforts."  At the end of the letter he goes 
Page 64
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 7   on to say, "Broadcast radio guarantees emergency     
 8   management officials the ability to connect          
 9   immediately and effectively with the public en mass. 
10   Locally-owned, locally-operated public broadcast     
11   stations like WRIR LPFM are an ideal tool for        
12   communication between municipalities and the         
13   communities they serve."                             
14               WRIR was neither the first station nor   
15   the second station, but we were the only station     
16   that accepted this partnership with the City that we 
17   live in.  The other stations, full powers, didn't    
18   want to give up their airwaves to serve the City     
19   they operate.  WRIR will allow the chief of police,  
20   the fire department, the Mayor's press office and    
21   the head of public utilities to discuss whatever     
22   needs to be done to restore peace in our lives.      
0177
 1               I am asking you today to do the next     
 2   right thing for response and recovery efforts and    
 3   allow the expansion of LPFMs on the radio dial,      
 4   because at least in Richmond, Virginia, we're the    
 5   only station willing to use our airwaves to save     
 6   lives and I'd like, and I'd like to submit the       
 7   letter from Doug Wilder, okay.                       
 8               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Yes, I'll take that.     
 9               (Power to the women).                    
10               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Susan Meehan.            
11               SUSAN MEEHAN:  Good afternoon, to dilute 
12   the number in diversity of medias and experiment,    
13   that places America at great risk of losing one of   
14   its most fundamental freedoms, the freedom of press. 
15               The ultimate reduction, result of this   
16   reduction of media is a loss of freedom in speech.   
17   This was brought home to me most strikingly when I   
18   spent a Summer years ago living in Spain when it was 
19   still under the control of Dictator Francisco        
20   Franco.  Freedom of speech was not even a luxury at  
21   that time and place.  It was a concept entirely      
22   unacceptable, untolerated and impermissible under    
0178
 1   any circumstances.                                   
 2               One member of the family with whom I     
 3   lived in high-rise public housing there greatly      
 4   disliked Franco and protested bitterly against him.  
 5   His orator always frightened the family greatly      
 6   because they knew if it was heard and reported, all  
 7   of them could be imprisoned.  So when they began to  
 8   rail against the Government in their own home, they  
 9   forced him into a closet, a clothes closet.  Dissent 
10   could only take place in a tiny room in the dark and 
11   surrounded by garments and galoshes, not other       
12   humans.                                              
13               I wouldn't want to live like that ever   
14   again and I am afraid that media consolidation is    
15   herding us in that direction.                        
16               If media ownership laws are changed to   
17   allow even more consolidation, a few immensely rich  
18   businesses will control what is said and democracy   
19   will suffer.  Issues in which the rich have          
20   viewpoints different from the poor will not be       
21   covered fairly or eventually at all because it will  
22   not be in their financial interests to do so.        
0179
Page 65
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 1               Severe consequences for democracy will   
 2   be the result and closets will once again become the 
 3   only place for protests.  People on the airwaves and 
 4   democracy requires that the greatest possible        
 5   variety of opinion should be brought to the          
 6   attention of all.                                    
 7               Thank you.                               
 8               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 9               (Applause)                               
10               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Before I announce the    
11   next speaker, I'd like to call the following people  
12   forward, Nanz Riccard, Tim Gibson, Christian         
13   Melendez, Alex Allen, Carol Jenkins, Adam Lynn and   
14   Michael Halperin.  E. Faye Williams.                 
15               ROSA CLEMENTE:  I'm Rosa Clemente.       
16               LOUIS SIGALOS:  You're next.             
17               E. Faye Williams.                        
18               ROSA CLEMENTE:  You haven't called me.   
19               LOUIS SIGALOS:  You're next up, Rosa,    
20   Rosa Clemente.                                       
21               ROSA CLEMENTE:  Hi, okay.  My name is    
22   Rosa Clemente and I'm a hip hop journalist, activist 
0180
 1   and community organizer.  I'm a mother and as a      
 2   black Peurto Rican woman, I'm outraged, I'm outraged 
 3   at a bunch of white men over the age of 45 that      
 4   control 95 percent of the material.  In this         
 5   material within the hip hop industry puts out the    
 6   most degrading, misogynistic and depicts my          
 7   daughter's father, my partner, an African-American   
 8   man with three jobs, but according to the majority   
 9   media, he is lazy, violent, a drug dealer, weed      
10   smoker, saggy-bag wearing Nigger.  Yes, because even 
11   if the mainstream media would not use this word,     
12   everything they put out there portrays him as a      
13   Nigger.                                              
14               As a women of color, what Don Imus said  
15   did not bother me.  Why, I don't expect anything     
16   from a racist bigot.  What angered me was that not   
17   one woman of color progressive or moderate was to be 
18   found on their airwaves after his nasty comments.    
19               As a hip hop generation baby, I am aware 
20   that what is portrayed on the mainstream media is    
21   not hip hop, but a distorted, twisted fantasy        
22   version of the rap industry so men who don't look    
0181
 1   like me or my daughter or the majority of the        
 2   American population can live in multi-million        
 3   mansions while they put out the most violent and     
 4   public safety nasty music out there so that they can 
 5   live lavish lives.                                   
 6               One year after the infamous Tsunami song 
 7   aired on Hot 97 we met with John Demic, a white man. 
 8   He said to us I don't let my listen -- my kids       
 9   listen to anything on the radio that comes out of    
10   this station that I program.  John Demic said as a   
11   hip hop programmer he does not allow his own         
12   children to listen to it.                            
13               So I ask the Commissioners, and          
14   respectfully, especially to Chairman Martin, this is 
15   not a joke for us, this is our lives and I ask you   
16   how will you sleep tonight, tomorrow or for the rest 
17   of your life if you allow this to happen.            
Page 66
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
18               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
19               (Applause).                              
20               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Nanz Riccard.            
21               NANZ RICCARD:  Good afternoon,           
22   Commissioners, I'm Nanz Riccard, I'm executive       
0182
 1   director of the District of Columbia's public access 
 2   television community network, DCTV, which transmits  
 3   over 130 original local program hours each week on   
 4   non-commercial channels devoted to public discourse. 
 5               As big media has gotten more and more    
 6   consolidated, they have pushed local diverse forces  
 7   off the air.  Community access channels fill an      
 8   important void.  Community programmers speak with    
 9   their communities.  Community channels are where the 
10   tableau is being broken that has caused minor girls  
11   who were infected with AIDS by adult men to be       
12   ostracized by their communities.                     
13               Here is where conversations among youth  
14   to resolve gang violence is being held.  This is not 
15   to ensure the commercial viability of these          
16   channels, but to meet vital local communication      
17   needs and make our communities better places to      
18   live.                                                
19               And yet at the same time the Commission  
20   is looking towards further media consolidation.  Its 
21   two recent hearings on cable TV franchising are      
22   chipping away at the one true local television       
0183
 1   system that exists within a reasonable regulatory    
 2   framework.  The issue before us is one of resolving  
 3   how out of balance our information distribution      
 4   systems have become relative to our goals as a       
 5   democracy.                                           
 6               The Chairman listed many proposals and   
 7   amendments.  They may be a start, but they do not by 
 8   themselves undo the results of overvigorous media    
 9   consolidation and its detriment on localism and      
10   diverse views.                                       
11               Mr. Goodmon spoke of looking at the      
12   picture as a whole in order to achieve true          
13   localism.  The imbalance is caused by the devil      
14   that's in the details and the cumulative effect of   
15   the many pieces discussed here today.                
16               The Commission acts in the public trust  
17   by guiding the use of some of the nation's most      
18   valuable publicly-owned assets.  In this light we    
19   respectfully request the Commission to halt further  
20   need of consolidation and adopt rules to encourage   
21   reversal of its effects to date.                     
22               Additionally, any further rules should   
0184
 1   encourage and ensure the continuance of new local    
 2   ownership with clearly-defined local programming,    
 3   public interest requirements and the framework       
 4   should be restored and extended to broadcast         
 5   satellite, radio and emergency technologies as a     
 6   mean of ensuring the unnecessary citizens-based      
 7   discord in each of those broad-based media, the      
 8   framework that public access has been over these     
 9   years.                                               
10               I thank the Commission very much.        
11               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
Page 67
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
12               Tim Gibson.  Tim Gibson.  Christian      
13   Melendez.                                            
14               CHRISTIAN MELENDEZ:  Good afternoon      
15   Commissioners, Chairman Martin, I'm Christian        
16   Melendez, I'm a student at the University of         
17   Maryland.  I'm also here to represent the            
18   underrepresented today, the youth, to urge you to    
19   promote localism by not relaxing media ownership     
20   rules, by encouraging low powered FM and by          
21   protecting that word neutrality.                     
22               You are probably aware that economists   
0185
 1   from your Commission said that local ownership of TV 
 2   stations had healthy implications for healthy news,  
 3   however as Senator Barbara Boxer has noted, that     
 4   study was suppressed.                                
 5               If evidence from the FCC is not enough,  
 6   try the story about two Fox reporters who are being  
 7   fired for doing a story on a dangerous growth        
 8   hormone by Monsanto who happened to be an advertiser 
 9   for Fox News.                                        
10               If the only outlet that's in an area     
11   decide to sensor the news, where, where's the public 
12   going to get this information from?                  
13               Again, I'm a student from the University 
14   of Maryland and many students there have never heard 
15   the terms media consolidation, never heard of        
16   neutrality, low powered FM.                          
17               I'm a DJ at the University's radio       
18   station, WMUC FM, College Park, it's America's       
19   oldest college radio station and a community outlet  
20   that has decided it would not duplicate the          
21   corporate infotainment that's perpetuate -- or       
22   excuse me, it's just repeatedly put out there on the 
0186
 1   airwaves every single day.                           
 2               We strive to bring all sorts of musical  
 3   genres, local artists, fresh news to the students of 
 4   College Park.  We don't expect big media to let the  
 5   public know what's really going on.  For example,    
 6   the amount of coverage in 2003 to the Commission's   
 7   rule changes was very limited, so then how am I      
 8   aware of these such things?  Because of              
 9   participatory and not one-directional medium, the    
10   Internet.                                            
11               The explosion of original user-generated 
12   content which is due to network neutrality is        
13   stealing revitalization of our democracy.  In        
14   College Park, for example, where I'm from, there's a 
15   major development initiative being undertaken by the 
16   University listeners and blogs like we think College 
17   Park are generating community awareness and          
18   involvement.  And I'll finish real fast, these are   
19   reasons to promote localism everywhere.  I want you  
20   to expand local powered FM, promote diversified      
21   ownership, protect the network neutrality.  Please   
22   don't let big media choke the oxygen out of our      
0187
 1   dwindling democracy and please don't let the public  
 2   leave thinking what the "F" CC.                      
 3               Thank you.                               
 4               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 5               Alex -- Alex Allen.                      
Page 68
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 6               ALEX ALLEN:  I wanted to address         
 7   Chairman Martin.                                     
 8               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Excuse me, what's your   
 9   name, sir?                                           
10               ALEX ALLEN:  Alex Allen, but I wanted to 
11   talk to Chairman Martin, but if he's running --      
12               LOUIS SIGALOS:  We're on the record.     
13               ALEX ALLEN:  All right, I just wanted to 
14   say that, I really like Chairman Martin and they     
15   print these dot matrix photos of him in the Wall     
16   Street Journal from time to time and I look at him   
17   and he's got such an innocent face and he's so soft  
18   spoken and so I think we're in good hands here, but  
19   then I hear about devious and devilish things that   
20   this Commission reportedly wants to do, like relax   
21   the newspaper, broadcast cross-ownership ban and     
22   then when this hearing is a week before the election 
0188
 1   scheduled on five minutes notice, it's not really    
 2   conducive to getting a fair sampling of public       
 3   comment.                                             
 4               With that said, I would say that         
 5   basically the, the situation, the media environment  
 6   in this country as it's demonstrated by corporate    
 7   interests, by the merchant class, every religion in  
 8   the world warns against the merchant class because   
 9   it's, it's very dangerous.                           
10               With that said, I'd like to, I'd like to 
11   build up, there's an old skit in Monte Python, an    
12   old skit in Monte Python where a health inspector    
13   walks into a chocolate shop and this chocolatier is  
14   making chocolates with Lark's vomit and -- my        
15   apologies, I'm glad you heard me, though.            
16               And basically the health inspector says, 
17   you know we have to take this stuff off the market.  
18   And he says but our sales are, or we have to tell    
19   the public, we have to label; and he said our sales  
20   would plummet.  The health inspector says to hell    
21   with your sales, we've got to protect the public and 
22   I think that the Commission has got to protect the   
0189
 1   public and the best way to do that is to not relax   
 2   any rules.                                           
 3               Thank you and --                         
 4               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much.     
 5               Carol Jenkins.                           
 6               Adam Lynn.                               
 7               ADAM LYNN:  I believe the public trust   
 8   has been lost and that only the profit motive        
 9   remains for media companies.  The Commission is      
10   tasked with ensuring the commercial media system     
11   recognizes that they foster the life blood of        
12   democracy and I believe you are failing in this      
13   regard.                                              
14               You can look back to the quote of Laurie 
15   Maze saying something to the effect of that he's not 
16   in the business of providing information to          
17   listeners, he's in the business of making money.     
18   And I think that's when we need to step in and tell  
19   him he's wrong on that account.                      
20               If, if some of you don't believe me in   
21   this regard, let me give a little evidence to the    
22   effect of why this is the case.  You can start with  
Page 69
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
0190
 1   staff cuts.  There's been 4,000 journalists at least 
 2   since 2000 that those jobs have been cut due to      
 3   consolidation.  If you go to look at what's replaced 
 4   these journalists, you'll see that fluff has         
 5   replaced these journalists.                          
 6               I turned on Fox 5 this morning before I  
 7   came down here and what did I see, I saw a           
 8   journalist dressed up as Ghostbuster walking around  
 9   doing a news report and that is not, not journalism  
10   to me and that is not what I want to hear about from 
11   my community.  If you look even further, you'll see  
12   well what else they've replaced it with is fake news 
13   or video news releases.                              
14               We, you know, I mean the fact, even      
15   regardless of disclosure, it's a travesty that this  
16   is even around and I'll report that the GAO site, it 
17   showed that from '98 to 2002 feed material increased 
18   from 14 percent to 23 percent, which is absolutely   
19   horrific.  And let me just, just say that on top of  
20   that, you know, you have, you just see the loss      
21   that, the loss of journalism that this has created.  
22               What, you know, what you see, you look   
0191
 1   to radio and the voice tracking and all these        
 2   things, that's what the next thing is in TV if you   
 3   allow consolidation.  So I don't think, you don't    
 4   need to imagine it.  You see it, it's happening, no  
 5   local news and if you want this homogenized content, 
 6   this lack of local news and a public that lacks the  
 7   means to inform themselves on issues of importance,  
 8   then you, then you go ahead and consolidate, but     
 9   otherwise you should think twice about that.         
10               And I just want to extend an open        
11   invitation to all Commissioners that if you believe  
12   anything the NAB or --                               
13               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much.     
14               ADAM LYNN:  -- NAB or NAA is saying      
15   about consolidation, I'm available day or night to   
16   prove you wrong.                                     
17               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you very much.     
18               ADAM LYNN:  Thank you.                   
19               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Before I announce the    
20   next speaker, would the following people come        
21   forward, please, Nickey Guerra, Josh Silver, Wendy   
22   Thompson, Alexandra Russell, Garland Nixon, Mike     
0192
 1   Shay, or Dylan Wrynn, Patricia Omana and Lynn        
 2   Erskine.                                             
 3               Michael Halperin.                        
 4               MICHAEL HALPERIN:  Good afternoon, I     
 5   come today in strong opposition to further media     
 6   consolidation.  I come today as an individual but in 
 7   my day job by work is to expose Government           
 8   corruption.  We depend on investigative reporters to 
 9   bring to light stories of corruption, not stories of 
10   wild fires, but stories about political appointees   
11   who manipulate endangered species, scientific        
12   documents or bring into light staged FEMA press      
13   conferences.                                         
14               Media consolidation really stifles       
15   meaningful investigative reporting with media        
16   outlets being forced to depend on wire stories and   
Page 70
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
17   the few reporters that have not been relieved of     
18   their duties.  This is not streamlining, it is       
19   dilution.                                            
20               It's no wonder the former editor of the  
21   Wall Street Journal has formed an investigation to   
22   employ investigative reporters and make their        
0193
 1   articles available free of charge to do the job      
 2   local media struggle with more and more every day.   
 3               Consolidation also significantly reduces 
 4   local editorial satire.  The number of professional  
 5   working editorial cartoonists has decreased          
 6   substantially in recent years to approximately 100   
 7   in the entire nation.                                
 8               With this decline comes a decline in     
 9   attention to local issues, mail order corruption,    
10   school board hi-jinx, local company layoffs, the     
11   critical, but local issues, are all but ignored.     
12               Furthermore, under increased             
13   consolidation, local media outlets are more likely   
14   to feel pressure from national owners to go soft on  
15   big advertisers, where the politicians or political  
16   appointees who create conditions favorable to their  
17   profits.                                             
18               Now this is not the media companies      
19   fault, it's not because of lazy reporters or         
20   editors, the situation comes from a failure to       
21   govern.                                              
22               John F. Kennedy's FCC Commissioner       
0194
 1   Newton Minnow said I did not come to Washington to   
 2   idly observe the squandering of the public's         
 3   airwaves.                                            
 4               I'd employ you to do the same and to     
 5   save this industry.                                  
 6               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 7               Nickey Guerra.                           
 8               NICKEY GUERRA:  Hello, Commissioners, as 
 9   demonstrated by all the speakers today, media        
10   consolidation clearly undermines the fundamental     
11   values of a truly deliberative democracy.  My        
12   parents fled a totality State in 1959 in search of   
13   freedom and a democratic State, most of all          
14   democracy for their children.                        
15               I fail to see this democracy that they   
16   sought.  Our mass media fails to protect us and      
17   undermines the values of the founding fathers that   
18   they need to promote democracy, free speech, public  
19   deliberation and public access to information.       
20               It's clear that consolidation only       
21   worsens media's tendency to sometimes omit           
22   information that's inconvenient and marginalize      
0195
 1   opinions that are oppositional.                      
 2               So, please, I implore you not to further 
 3   these faults in our mass media by further relaxing   
 4   the consolidation rules.                             
 5               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 6               Josh Silver.                             
 7               JOSH SILVER:  Hi, Commissioners, I'm     
 8   Josh Silver, I'm actually the co-founder and         
 9   executive director of Free Press and I've never      
10   testified to the FCC, so this is exciting.           
Page 71
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
11               I just wanted to tell you why in two     
12   minutes, this will be a miracle if I can do this,    
13   why I helped found Free Press and it was really out  
14   of exacerbation over the state, particularly of      
15   television news.  And everything we've heard and     
16   everything we see across the board shows that        
17   consolidation, further consolidation is just going   
18   to make matters worse.                               
19               I'm struck by how truly bipartisan, when 
20   I go out across the country, and I'm not talking to  
21   politicos, but I'm talking to real people and I do   
22   it a lot, probably more than most people in the      
0196
 1   country, that people on the right and the left       
 2   really can't stand this idea of further              
 3   consolidation and I, I put that to you as a warning  
 4   that this is not popular in any way.                 
 5               And I guess I'd conclude by saying it's  
 6   very clear that while we might not be seeing yet the 
 7   kind of backlash that we saw in 2003, I see it       
 8   starting to percolate and people across the country  
 9   really care about this and they're watching closely  
10   and I really hope that you will listen to the        
11   99 percent of public comments that you've received   
12   opposing consolidation and do as the public would    
13   have you do.                                         
14               Thank you.                               
15               (Applause)                               
16               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
17               Wendy Thompson.                          
18               WENDY THOMPSON:  Well when I start this, 
19   good afternoon, my name is Wendy Thompson and I am   
20   the vice president and general manager of Telemundo, 
21   Washington, D.C., which is owned and operated by CGS 
22   Communications, one of the very few minority-owned   
0197
 1   broadcasting companies.                              
 2               My station has over 30 employees and     
 3   every one of us have been a wavering commitment to   
 4   serve our audience.  Through our nightly local news  
 5   at 6 and 11 and Washington's only Spanish language   
 6   public affairs program (spoke in Spanish), the       
 7   Hispanic community in this region is kept informed   
 8   of current issues.  We are the communities vehicle   
 9   to learn about the services and opportunities        
10   available in our region.                             
11               Last night, for example, we offer our    
12   viewers the opportunity to contact a panel of        
13   experts in domestic violence to learn of the         
14   services available in the region for victims of      
15   domestic violence.  Without having the support from  
16   the FCC, communities will not be able to receive the 
17   much needed local information.                       
18               In our case, we are the bridge that      
19   connects and keeps our community informed.  Both     
20   Commissioners McDowell and Commissioner Adelstein    
21   have visited our station and have seen firsthand the 
22   commitment and the work that we do to help our       
0198
 1   communities.                                         
 2               That is why we devote so much efforts    
 3   toward educational projects such as our read to      
 4   succeed literacy campaign, voting health and         
Page 72
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 5   financial education.  We're very proud to be a       
 6   Hispanic-owned broadcaster and proud still of the    
 7   difference we make in our community.  Our motto says 
 8   it all (spoke in Spanish) the voice of the           
 9   community.                                           
10               We hope the FCC recognizes the           
11   importance of localism and acts to preserve it.      
12               (Applause).                              
13               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
14               Alexandra Russell.                       
15               ALEXANDRA RUSSELL:  Hi, good afternoon,  
16   oh, thanks.  My name's Alexandra Russell and I'm a   
17   citizen activist and as your very own cheerleaders   
18   told you this morning, folks were lined up outside   
19   the building from 4 a.m. on ready to testify and     
20   even more people rallied outside this morning to     
21   call on you to put people in better local diverse    
22   news ahead of corporate interests and big media.     
0199
 1               These are our public airwaves, it's      
 2   something we sometimes forget, but they're ours and  
 3   corporations have an obligation to put the public    
 4   interests first, but what we're finding as big media 
 5   companies get even bigger is that more local news is 
 6   getting stifled and the most important part of that  
 7   is that women and people of color are getting pushed 
 8   out, our ownership levels are down.  Women are more  
 9   than half the population of this country, but we are 
10   less than 5 percent of TV broadcast stations and     
11   less than 6 percent of radio.  This is simply        
12   unacceptable.                                        
13               I urge you as all the folks outside this 
14   morning and in here to put people, the public and    
15   local diverse news ahead of big corporate profits.   
16               Thank you.                               
17               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
18               Garland Nixon.                           
19               GARLAND NIXON:  Yes, I'm a radio talk    
20   show host with Pacifica Network and basically I      
21   started to kind of talk about myself, but I decided  
22   just to say this, I think all you have to do really  
0200
 1   is look, if you look at the people who are walking   
 2   up here, these are normal, every day people.         
 3               This really is not about corporations    
 4   and radio, it's about democracy.  If we look at our  
 5   history, if we look at the Boston Tea Party, what    
 6   did we have, we had a lot of regular every day       
 7   citizens who said, you know, we don't like things    
 8   this way and they all, they all came together to do  
 9   something.                                           
10               And we ask ourselves who was right, the  
11   big people in power or the every day people who said 
12   we don't like this.  We look at the civil rights     
13   movement, what did we have, a bunch of people who    
14   walked up to the Government and said, you know, this 
15   isn't right, let's do things a different way.        
16               Our history tells us that when the       
17   citizens, the normal every day citizens, the motley  
18   crew you have here in sneakers and hats and tennis   
19   shoes walk up and say this is the way we think it    
20   should be and on the other side you have people, you 
21   have corporate millionaires in 5,000 dollar suits    
Page 73
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
22   saying we want things another way, our history tells 
0201
 1   us that every single time democracy should have gone 
 2   on the side of the every day people.                 
 3               So, rather than say my story, I'd just   
 4   simply like to say I'd like you to think about       
 5   democracy and think about history and think about    
 6   what if you were back there making that decision,    
 7   sitting there and there were people in power and     
 8   there were people up, walking up off the street just 
 9   saying, you know, can you look at it our way, we     
10   don't have any money and power.                      
11               Thank you.                               
12               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.  Dylan Wrynn? 
13   Mike Shay, Dylan Wrynn.                              
14               Patricia Omana.                          
15               PATRICIA OMANA:  Good afternoon, my name 
16   is Patricia Omana, and I am the general manager of   
17   WIOC AM radio station owned by CGS Communications    
18   which is 100 percent Hispanic owned.                 
19               WIOC, we're basically, we are an AM band 
20   but we operate as a music station.  Looking at our   
21   community, our Hispanic community in the area, in    
22   the metro, we internally have created a lot of       
0202
 1   programming, we have opened our microphone and       
 2   opened our studio to profit, non-profit              
 3   organizations to educate and empower this community. 
 4               This community needs a lot of            
 5   information and we are providing that for them and   
 6   that's what localism does, not only for the Hispanic 
 7   community, for any community that exists in the      
 8   United States.                                       
 9               Thank you.                               
10               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.  Before I     
11   announce the next speaker, I'd like to call up the   
12   following people, Francwa Sims, Sandra Levin,        
13   Natalie Fannie and Shireen Mitchell.                 
14               Lynn Erskine.                            
15               LYNN ERSKINE:  Hello, my name is Lynn    
16   Erskine, I'm a long-time resident of Washington,     
17   D.C.  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak. 
18               I'm concerned that I don't see many      
19   local TV stations covering this hearing and it's     
20   hard to change the media if the media isn't willing  
21   to cover themselves.                                 
22               Traditional media remains highly         
0203
 1   profitable.  The economics across ownership and      
 2   consolidation within media have played a central     
 3   role in the debate over limits on media ownership.   
 4               Media owners have argued that            
 5   consolidation and conglomeration from an economic    
 6   efficiency and result in a more vibrant media        
 7   marketplace.  This assertion is challenged by        
 8   reality, however.  Newspaper and television          
 9   properties are highly profitable when compared to    
10   nearly every other industry.  Newspapers, for        
11   example, generally have profit margins of 20 percent 
12   or more and regularly sell at multiples of 10 to 12  
13   times cash flow.                                     
14               The biggest problem facing traditional   
15   media is to develop profitable ways to distribute    
Page 74
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
16   their content online, a problem that isn't solved by 
17   consolidation.  In fact, increased head-to-head      
18   competition on the Web between independent local     
19   newspapers and TV stations can enrich the news       
20   content of local markets.                            
21               While newspapers and broadcasters need   
22   to develop better strategies to attract viewers and  
0204
 1   readers, there's no evidence that combining local    
 2   newspapers and TV will help.                         
 3               There are quality newspaper models that  
 4   work.                                                
 5               Thank you.                               
 6               (Applause).                              
 7               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
 8               Francwa Sims.                            
 9               FRANCWA SIMS:  Right here.  Okay.  I'm,  
10   okay, I'm Francwa Sims, I'm a local D.C. Blogger and 
11   as an African-American male, I understand what it's  
12   like to be underrepresented and marginalized.        
13               As a content provider, I also understand 
14   competition and with other bloggers in the           
15   professional so-called credentialed media, and it's  
16   very hard for bloggers to get our revenue.  I also   
17   understand that it is special powerful interests     
18   that control the pockets of the FCC, Congress, the   
19   White House and the judiciary.  They own the         
20   airwaves and the pockets of the FCC.                 
21               I'll make this point again, the FCC is   
22   on the take and I don't blame them.  I wish somebody 
0205
 1   would offer me money for my blog.                    
 2               After spoke, that the decision has       
 3   already been made and all this public testimony is   
 4   just a matter of procedure.  If the FCC cannot serve 
 5   the public interests, then it should be abolished    
 6   and replaced by a more democratic body.  The FCC is  
 7   not really in control here, Congress is not in       
 8   control, nor is the executive branch and the         
 9   judiciary.  This is really a one-sided discussion.   
10               The FCC is a puppet and the corporate    
11   interests is pushing for media consolidation.  It is 
12   amazing how the current administration can advocate  
13   a free press of media in Iraq while we're losing it  
14   here at home.                                        
15               Thank you.                               
16               (Applause).                              
17               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
18               Sondra Levin.                            
19               SONDRA LEVIN:  Yes, good afternoon, my   
20   name is Sondra Levin, I have been a journalist for   
21   15 years and I grew up in Silver Spring.  I'm        
22   motivated to speak because of my outrage of the      
0206
 1   direction of media.                                  
 2               More and more large corporations and     
 3   monopolies have taken ownership of the media         
 4   business.  This has resulted in a huge decline in    
 5   presentation of voices, the number of voices and     
 6   ideas.  Democracy depends on freedom of the press    
 7   and free speech.                                     
 8               Any, I oppose any FCC actions to enable  
 9   the consolidation of media ownership.  It runs       
Page 75
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
10   counter to free speech and free press.               
11               The FCC should, in fact, go the opposite 
12   direction.  I'm shocked and appalled by the amount   
13   of propaganda, lies and lack of enough environmental 
14   and social justice issues presented in the media.    
15               As a journalist I'm appalled by the      
16   lowering of standards in my profession.  Due to      
17   consolidation, there is less opportunities for me as 
18   well.  I'm appalled by the lies and misinformation   
19   and bias in media reports.                           
20               I participated in a march against the    
21   war in mid-September and the newspapers failed to    
22   report the number correctly.  There was              
0207
 1   misinformation and they weren't even following the   
 2   basic journalistic principles of who, what, where,   
 3   when and why.                                        
 4               When I sit in the cafe, the radio is     
 5   playing and I hear information about celebrities I   
 6   have no interest in hearing about, Brittney Spears   
 7   and other non-singers that I do not want to hear     
 8   about goes on for 5, 10 minutes and I'm so angry     
 9   that I turn off the TV and I turn off the radio, but 
10   opting out is not a reason to do -- it's not         
11   something that I should do or anybody should do, we  
12   should try to get a media that listens to everybody  
13   and has a variety of voices, so that's why I'm here  
14   to speak.                                            
15               I don't want to opt out, I want to speak 
16   out and say we need a diversity of voices, that's    
17   what the founding fathers would want.                
18               Thank you.                               
19               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.  Natalie      
20   Afannie.  Natalie?                                   
21               Shireen Mitchell.                        
22               SHIREEN MITCHELL:  Thank you and good    
0208
 1   afternoon, I appreciate the opportunity to speak.    
 2               I'm from the organization called Digital 
 3   Sisters and we're an organization that focuses on    
 4   media and technology and its impacts on              
 5   self-sufficiency for women and children who are      
 6   repeatedly underserved.                              
 7               I want to thank you today for supporting 
 8   our issues around women of color who, stop the       
 9   violence against women of color by having everyone   
10   wear the tag for red and the V standing for victim,  
11   we appreciate that, so as we move forward, basically 
12   I'm also part of a coalition of women's, the women's 
13   coalition of dignity and diversity, you heard a      
14   little bit about them earlier, and focusing on       
15   issues that are happening in the media and how they  
16   impact women and how they impact particularly women  
17   of color.                                            
18               This media issue is a big issue and I    
19   think someone said it earlier, when you start to see 
20   people come in to do the things you see today, that  
21   means that something's wrong.  We've got to speak    
22   out, we've got to make some changes and that's why   
0209
 1   I'm here today.                                      
 2               Although I heard someone say that        
 3   they're happy about digital TV and digital radio,    
Page 76
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
 4   we're also not happy about how it came about.  As    
 5   one speaker said, he's not sure what will happen to  
 6   those stations that aren't able to make the          
 7   transition from analog to digital.  We are clear     
 8   that that is the problem, you don't know what's      
 9   going to happen, we're going to mute those voices.   
10               The small local stations will lose their 
11   ability to broadcast to local communities, the wait  
12   and see what happens motto is the reason we have the 
13   lack of diversity in the media ownership right now,  
14   and women and minority broadcasters as well.         
15               Media consolidation will further         
16   decrease diversity and not allow the local issues    
17   that are important to local communities to be        
18   broadcasted.  Although many people can get access to 
19   local issues online, we continue to forget that      
20   there are too many women and people that still don't 
21   have online access to anything and actually rely on  
22   their local community television stations and radio  
0210
 1   coverage.                                            
 2               With less local stations available, it   
 3   means that less local news for those communities and 
 4   families.  Diversity of voice is important.  Of all  
 5   things, we just need to make sure that we are        
 6   addressing this issue and not spending time on       
 7   issues like Imus.  We can no longer wait and see and 
 8   have, and make sure that everyone has a voice.  We   
 9   have to make local issues an important part of       
10   what's going on so that these people who have, are   
11   impacted by media in their daily lives can see       
12   what's going on.                                     
13               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
14               SHIREEN MITCHELL:  Whether it's about    
15   local jobs to re-development or the fact that the    
16   average single mother isn't on welfare and works two 
17   jobs and wants to know what's going on in her        
18   schools in her community, we've got to make a        
19   difference today.                                    
20               LOUIS SIGALOS:  Thank you.               
21               And I want to thank you, all of today's  
22   public commentors.                                   
0211
 1               This concludes the Commission's 6th      
 2   hearing on localism.  Thank you for your attendance  
 3   and for your participation.                          
 4               (Public Hearing concluded.)              
 5                                                        
 6                                                        
 7                                                        
 8                                                        
 9                                                        
10                                                        
11                                                        
12                                                        
13                                                        
14                                                        
15                                                        
16                                                        
17                                                        
18                                                        
19                                                        
20                                                        
Page 77
FCC Hearing 10.31.07
21                                                        
22                                                         
0212
 1              CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER
 2   
 3          I, Monica Voorhees, do hereby certify that
 4   this transcript was prepared from tape to the best
 5   of my ability.
 6   
 7          I am neither counsel nor party to this
 8   action nor am I interested in the outcome of this
 9   action.
10     
11     
12   
13     
14                          Monica Voorhees
15   
16   
17   
18   
19   
20   
21                                                    
22   
Page 78