Free Press Town Meeting on the Future of the Media

Citizens Speak Out for Democracy in the Media... and Someone Listens

by Frances Moore Lappé

"We learned that people in the heartland see many good reasons to oppose further media concentration. The verdict was unanimous -from elected leaders, teachers, workers, minorities, nurses, parents and grandparents - people are dissatisfied their with local media outlets." Jonathan Adelstein, member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), October 5, 2005.

Adelstein was reacting to what he'd heard that night from more than 500 people filling the Pomerantz Center at the University of Iowa -- the latest in Free Press's series of "Town Meetings on the Future of the Media." Free Press is a nonprofit advocacy organization working for media reform. The FCC has allowed such media concentration that five conglomerates now control the vast majority of everything we read, hear and see in the media and these citizens were speaking out for greater diversity in our media.

The crowd lined up for nearly three hours to offer public testimony to FCC officials on the quality of local news coverage, increasing commercialism, and the impact of media giants such as Clear Channel and Sinclair Broadcasting on the local community. Such town meetings are giving citizens a voice to address people like Adelstein about the impact of media concentration on their lives - and apparently some are being heard.

These Iowa citizens spoke passionately at the open meeting about how the public airwaves should be used to serve the public interest, not the financial priorities of a few big media corporations.

Over the past year, Free Press has convened "Town Hall" meetings in conjunction with local coalitions in Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota, inviting FCC Commissioners to hear directly from Americans in communities across the country. These meetings give community members the opportunity to address the FCC about issues that affect us all: media ownership, media consolidation, and the media’s lack of accountability to the communities they are supposed to serve. They give a voice to citizens on policies that are otherwise decided upon by government officials behind closed doors and under the thumb of well-funded Big Media lobbyists.

In Iowa, as in all of the states where Town Meetings have been held, the participating community members made clear that instead of allowing big media companies to swallow up even more media outlets, they want media policies that encourage more diverse, independent and local voices.

Commissioner Adelstein responded: "The message I will take back to Washington is that we had better address the very real issues raised by concerned citizens of Iowa before we consider further media consolidation."

--- Town Meetings on the future of media are just one of many Free Press campaigns to involve the public in media policymaking and to craft policies for more democratic media. Find out more at www.freepress.net

October, 2005

Lappé is a pioneer in democratic thought and action. Democracy's Edge exemplifies her path blazing role in keeping democracy alive in our time.
-Cornel West
Professor, Princeton University

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