Today’s Good News: Common Cause Puts The “Public” Back In “Public Interest”

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Common Cause has been in the forefront of efforts to make the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) more responsive to the public since the media-ownership battle of 2003. Regulatory agencies’ tendency to view industry as “clients” and the public as a “nuisance” has accelerated during the Bush administration, but there’s also been a lot of pushback on this. Spurred by the recent FCC ruling to relax the media cross-ownership ban, Common Cause released a set of recommendations for the agency. Common Cause, the Media Access Project (MAP) and Econometric Research and Analysis offer a set of simple and affordable recommendations for the agency to better involve the public in the critical dialog over our media and digital future.

“In many respects the FCC recapitulates the failure of the telecommunications market: a system in which incumbents with power arising from their great wealth determine outcomes without regard for the best interest of the majority of Americans. Just as only well-regulated markets can deliver genuine competition, only an FCC with transparent procedures in which incumbents do not routinely prevail can guarantee that the public’s airwaves are utilized for the public interest rather than the enrichment of special interests,” said Gregory Rose, president of Econometric Research and Analysis.

The recommendations include:

  • Open Access for the Public, Not Just Industry Lobbyists

Publish meeting agendas enough in advance to give fair warning.

90 day standard for public comment.

Hold more public forums outside D.C. and provide at least thirty days notice of any public forum. (Activists are very familiar with the hurry-up-and-wait process whereby we have had less than a week’s notice on key events.)

  • Open Up and Improve FCC Data
  • Attitude Adjustment; Make Better Use of Existing Authority and Resources

Nothing prevents the FCC from making voluntary surveys mandatory on pain of fine or license revocation for failure to comply.

FCC must do a better job enforcing its own rules in a fair and consistent manner.

Attitude adjustment. Too many FCC staffers seem to regard industry representatives as “clients” while regarding members of the public as “nuisances.”

    Filed by Karen on January 6th, 2008 under Grassroots Organizing, Media, Open Government


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