Historic Senate Vote Rejects FCC's Rules
'Resolution of disapproval' passes Senate...all eyes on
the House
WASHINGTON -- In a near-unanimous voice vote tonight, the Senate
passed a "resolution of disapproval" that would nullify the Federal
Communications Commission's latest attempt to dismantle longstanding media
ownership limits.
Last December, the FCC voted to remove the "newspaper/broadcast
cross-ownership" ban that prohibits one company from owning a broadcast station
and the major daily newspaper in the same market. The resolution of disapproval
(Senate Joint Resolution 28), introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.),
would nullify the FCC's new rules if passed by Congress and signed by the
president. The House version of the resolution was introduced by Reps. Jay
Inslee (D-Wash.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) in March.
Today, the Bush administration issued a statement opposing the
resolution and threatening to veto it. The statement called the FCC's new rules
the product of "extensive public comment and consultation" but failed to mention
that only 1 percent of public comments supported the administration's position.
Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, which
coordinates the StopBigMedia.com Coalition, made the following statement:
"Today's historic Senate vote is a resounding victory for the vast
majority of Americans who oppose media consolidation. We applaud the bipartisan
leadership of Senators Dorgan and Snowe for acting in the public interest. But
to stop Big Media from polluting our local airwaves with more junk journalism
and propaganda, we need the House to move this legislation forward quickly.
"At this watershed moment, public outrage against Big Media has
reached a breaking point. The Bush administration's threats to undercut this
bipartisan effort in Congress show how out of touch this president is with the
will of the American people. But we’re not going to stand idly by and let the
White House green light Big Media's expansion. The great pendulum of political
change is swinging away from corrosive consolidation and toward better media."
Read the FCC's cross-ownership order: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-216A1.pdf
Learn more about the FCC's new rules: http://www.stopbigmedia.com/files/devil_in_the_details.pdf