Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is just one more crony of the Bush Administration who bows to the power of perpetual back-scratching, bestowing public favors on big business instead of doing his job to protect the people's communications assets.
After serving as deputy counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 2000 Florida vote recount, the administration handed Martin, a Republican, his job as commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission when Michael Powell resigned from the post in January 2005. The Bush administration has been known to reward loyal political allies with lofty positions of power regardless of qualifications - or lack thereof (remember the "heck of a job" Bush said Brownie did in dealing with Hurricane Katrina?).
In December, Martin pushed through a change in policy that extremely damages the amount of available news outlets. The FCC voted along strict party lines to loosen its decades-old, newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule, which prevented entities from owning broadcast stations and a daily newspaper in the same city. When fewer companies own the media, the public gets less localism, diversity and quality of information.
Martin sometimes gives less than a week's notification of Town Hall Meetings at which the public can voice opinions on rule changes, like he did last November in Seattle. Despite the short notice, thousands of people attended these events in 18 cities across the country to protest elimination of the cross-ownership ban. According to FreePress.net, 99 percent of the public opposed the rule change, but Martin still proceeded to allow an increase media consolidation.
Recent media coverage of the Democratic presidential debates illustrates how massive media consolidation (which happened as a consequence of the 1996 Telecommunications Act) severely curtails the public's ability to obtain the substantive information that is necessary in voting. The public gets "infotainment" with the media practically picking the candidates. Dennis Kucinich was left out of the NBC Democratic debate in Las Vegas even though he had met the criteria of attaining a fourth-place showing in the Ohio and New Hampshire state primaries. Ron Paul was left out of the FOX debate in New Hampshire even after showing significant support in the polls and subsequently coming in second place in Nevada's Republican primary.
Consumer advocates aren't the only ones who feel Martin and the FCC favor big business. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office reported last October that Martin's office had leaked reports on upcoming regulatory proceedings to phone and cable company lobbyists before they were available to the public. With the inside scoop on proceedings, such as when proposed rulings are scheduled for votes, communications companies have time to prepare responses and positions when consumers don't even know what is coming. Furthermore, consumer groups and other interested parties are prohibited from lobbying commissioners once an agenda for a vote is made public.
Other FCC commissioners have accused Martin of suppressing or manipulating data contrary to his positions. It seems that the purpose of the FCC's research on the cross-ownership rule was to uncover barriers to eliminating the rule rather than to study if it was necessary to eliminate it.
Martin's over-reaching authority, much like that of the Bush Administration, seems to have exceeded the limits of Congress' patience.
Martin is under investigation by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee due to a barrage of complaints about the way that the committee does business, and that investigation has continued to broaden in scope since it was launched last December. The Washington Post reported last week that the committee has requested e-mails, memos, handwritten notes and meeting schedules dating back three years.
Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., has claimed he is "rapidly losing confidence" in the FCC. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., wants to overhaul the entire FCC and vowed in a Senate Commerce Committee meeting in December to block any commissioner reconfirmations until Congress develops a reauthorization bill addressing "the structure of the agency, its mission, the terms of the commissioners and how to make the agency a better regulator, advocate for consumers and a better resource for Congress."
Congress must require that the leader of regulatory administration as vital as the FCC have the public's interest in mind first and foremost and balance that interest with the desires of industry. The airwaves are a public resource in which every citizen holds "stock." The public deserves diversity in available media outlets in order to stay informed and hold the government accountable.
Congress must also reverse the damage from massive media consolidation that Martin has allowed. The bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on March 5 by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., invalidates the FCC's decision to eliminate the cross-ownership rule. It already has 20 co-sponsors. Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchsion and John Cornyn need to hear from you about your right to choose your media sources, so that they make the right decision to support this bill. Yowell is a public affairs graduate student.
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