Free Press Rips FCC’s Martin Over Oct. 31 Hearing

Media-Consolidation Opponent Angered by Short Notice on Broadcast-Localism Hearing

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/25/2007 12:56:00 PM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin continues to get grief over the decision to hold a hearing on broadcast localism on short notice.

While there has been talk for several weeks about the possibility of the Oct. 31 hearing date, the FCC only made it official Wednesday as part of a so-called sunshine notice in which it is supposed to issue a public agenda at least one week before the public meetings.

In a release Thursday, media-consolidation opponent Free Press -- which has been calling for more public input on the FCC's revision of media-ownership rules -- called it a "slap in the face to the vast majority of Americans who oppose consolidation." The e-mailed statement linked to criticisms of the hearing's short notice by FCC Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps.

The FCC's announcement of the hearing came the same day Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) vowed to slow down a timetable that would lead to a mid-December vote on the rule changes, but Lott said it was not an issue that he was getting a lot of constituent calls about.