Critics Turn Out To Protest Media Consolidation

But local media still matter, said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, which succeeded in overturning the FCC's attempted ownership rules changes in 2004.

"The wonderful new media platforms we now have supplement, but do not supplant, the traditional media, especially at the local level," Schwartzman said after testifying at the hearing. "Over-the-air TV and daily newspapers are still, by far, the most important forces shaping public opinion. Democracy suffers when one company has too much influence over what happens in a community."

But the industry says that market changes have effectively rendered many of the FCC ownership limits moot.

For instance, the limit on how many radio stations one company can own nationally was lifted in 1996, allowing Clear Channel Communications to accumulate more than 1,200 stations and the lion's share of criticism for homogenizing radio.

Since then, Clear Channel has been crippled by diminishing radio listenership. Last year, the company said it would divest its television stations and sell the company to a private-equity firm, which would shear off one-third of the company's stations.

That scenario is the reason media companies are not clamoring for the sort of wide-ranging relaxation of rules that they did four years ago. Only one of the FCC's media ownership regulations under consideration has substantial impact, and much of that is restricted to one company.

This is the 32-year-old "cross-ownership rule," which prohibits one company from owning a newspaper and television station in the same city.

The company that would most benefit from abandoning that prohibition is Tribune Co., which has been allowed to own newspapers and television stations in a handful of cities, thanks to grandfathering and a series of FCC waivers. Tribune is converting to a private company and would like the cross-ownership rule lifted to end the need for waivers. Opponents have lobbied against an FCC renewal of Tribune's exceptions.

The complexity of the current media landscape and broadly directed anger at "the media" by a number of groups was on display yesterday.

Jackson said that the FCC should help strengthen locally owned media, and used as an example the Jena 6 case in Louisiana, which he said has been under-reported by Louisiana media. He credited "YouTubing and MySpacing" with raising awareness of the case. But he did not mention that YouTube is owned by Google, a new-media colossus, and MySpace is owned by the world's second-largest traditional media company, News Corp.

MySpace, the world's largest social-networking site with more than 100 million user profiles, promotes Murdoch's Fox television shows and 20th Century Fox movies, all outside the FCC's purview. Some protesters yesterday carried signs denouncing Big Media emblazoned with a photo of a scowling Murdoch.

Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, linked media ownership to controversial programming. "We don't want consolidation that would allow multiple Imuses on the airwaves," she said, referring to radio star Don Imus, fired in April after broadcasting racist remarks.

The Teamsters were at the FCC rally to support fellow union members who work at newspapers and television stations owned by Tribune, saying they fear job cuts under the company's new ownership structure. A dog wandered around wearing a sign reading "Big Media bites."

Inside, meanwhile, the FCC commissioners took care of other business: They unanimously voted to ban exclusive contracts between cable TV providers and the owners of apartment buildings, condominium complexes and planned subdivisions.

The new rule will allow phone giants AT&T and Verizon to roll out their own television services to buildings and communities that had been subject to such exclusive contracts.

The FCC also decided that consumers will be able to transfer their phone numbers to and from Internet phone providers, an extension of a previous ruling that cellphone customers can take their numbers with them when switching between wireless carriers.

Staff writer Kim Hart contributed to this report.