FCC Ruling Fuels Movement for Media Democracy

John Nichols writes in the Nation on-line that today's "3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission to remove barriers to corporate consolidation of control over the media capped a process that ... bent the rules to serve the special interests. ... In addition to provoking passionate opposition ... this spring's debate over the six sweeping changes in media ownership regulations drew more scrutiny of the FCC than had ever before been seen. And that attention has revealed an agency where corporations that are supposed to be regulated enjoy extraordinary access to the regulators and the favorable treatment that extends from that access." Nichols is one of many journalists, critics, public interest activists and public officials participating in the first National Conference on Media Reform this November 7-9 in Madison, Wisconsin, geared to building a political movement to democratize American media.