A Step Forward in the Fight for a Free and Independent Media

Statement

A Step Forward in the Fight for a Free and Independent Media

It's from both a personal and a policy perspective that I applaud the Senate's vote last Thursday to reverse the FCC's 2007 decision allowing media companies to own both a major TV or radio station and a major daily newspaper in the same city.

In my hometown of North Haven, Maine, my neighbors tune into WRKD from Rockland. You can hear it playing in the background of every local boatyard and garage. In 2003, when I testified on Capitol Hill for a hearing on media consolidation, I told of my first campaign as a total unknown running for the Maine state senate in 1992 in Knox and Waldo Counties against a very well known opponent who was expected to win.

In the last month of that campaign, my opponent and I had a live debate from WRKD's studio on a Sunday night. That debate shifted the outcome of the race to my favor, and it showed me the enormous power of local radio to inform the public and shape opinion. This story, although local and personal, exemplifies the importance of that Senate vote.

The vote to block the FCC's earlier resolution to loosen restrictions on media conglomeration was not just about anti-trust regulation. The restrictions first placed on media companies in 1974 came from a citizens' movement that sought to break up media concentration on the basis that it reduced competition, diminished the free flow of information, and harmed the public interest. Here in Maine, increased media consolidation hurts the valued Maine tradition of localism and independence in the media.

During much of my tenure as president of Common Cause (2003 - 2007), our office was located in a building across Connecticut Avenue from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). I often thought about the lobbyists dashing in and out of that building, with their large expense accounts and free flowing campaign contributions. While Common Cause and our allies found sympathetic listeners in FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein, and some lawmakers in Congress, I was continually dismayed by the number of otherwise progressive elected officials who were willing to vote against the public's interest in favor of the broadcasting industry.

Today, I'm a candidate for Congress in Maine's first district. I hope that the senate's almost unanimous vote to maintain tight regulations on media is a sign of a new resolve by our elected representatives to stand up against the blandishments of big media and the NAB. If elected, I look forward to joining the fight for a free and independent media. Nothing will strengthen our democracy more.

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