If you were surfing our channels the night of Wednesday the
21st, you may have caught a hot debate being aired on Channel
20.
If you were surfing our channels the night of Wednesday the 21st, you may have caught a hot debate being aired on Channel 20.
I wish we could have publicized it sooner, but we didn’t even get word that we’d have access to the program until that day. CMAP had the terrific opportunity of receiving a live feed from the Federal Communications Commission Localism Hearing in Monterey, thanks to another Access Center (Access Monterey Peninsula) and the Monterey County Office of Education.
The hearings are in response to a massive public outcry that occurred nationally after the FCC voted to relax media ownership rules, which threaten independent and diverse voices in the media. The forum turned out to be a whopping five hours with attendees in the neighborhood of 500.
Only a handful of localism hearings are happening in the country, and this hearing was only cablecast on three television stations … CMAP being one of them.
FCC Commissioners Adelstein, Copps, and Abernathy led the forum, and were anxious to hear what broadcasters and viewers alike had to say about localism in community media.
Two panels were able to speak after the Commissioners kicked off the meeting with their statements about commitment to localism in the media. The panelists came from all walks of broadcast life, and received cheers and jeers from the audience throughout their presentations.
The first panelists included Blanca Zarazua, Chair of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Monterey County; Eduardo Dominguez, VP and GM of KSTS Telemundo; Joe Heston, President and GM of KSBW; Joseph Saltzman, Associate Dean of USC’s Annenberg School of Communication; Sean McLaughlin, President and CEO of Maui Community TV; Chuck Tweedle, GM of KOIT in San Francisco.
Salzman, who was reading a statement submitted by Professor Kaplan of USC, talked about how lax FCC renewal policies have begun. All stations need to do is send in a postcard to get renewed. There isn’t an effective monitoring process whereby stations need to be accountable for a required amount of locally produced programming or public affairs programming.
In particular, he brought up how campaign coverage doesn’t offer a forum for candidates to talk about the issues.
Commissioner Copps mentioned that the first presidential debate he watched on TV was with Stevenson and Eisenhower. Each candidate had 30 minutes to speak, and the program was commercial free.
These days, the airwaves are littered with campaign ads and propaganda, versus candidates discussing real issues and answering real questions. The crowd overwhelmingly agreed, based on their applause.
The second group of panelists included Harry J. Pappas, CEO of Pappas Telecasting; John Connolley, President of AFTRA; Kathy Baker, VP and GM of KWAV and KIDD; Davey D, DJ, KPFA; Delia Saldivar, Manager of KHDC, Salinas; Harry Robins Jr., Emergency Services Manager, City of Monterey; and Warren Trumbly, President of the Community Broadcasters Association.
There were too many great soundbites and quotes from the passionate public, Commissioners, and panelists to list. You’ll have to watch the hearing yourself. Catch it on Channel 17 Hollister/San Juan Bautista at 1 p.m. all next week. Gilroyans will be able to catch the hearing on Channel 20, times TBA on our Web site: www.mycmap.org
As a manager of a non-commercial public access station, localism in the media and your right to have a say in what goes on your airwaves is a subject quite close to my heart, as is the case with the FCC commissioners who attended the hearing. Both audience members and myself found it interesting, but not surprising, that Commissioner Powell did not attend the hearings.
Commissioner Copps sums up the threat of media consolidation, and lax FCC rules in this statement: “The ultimate reality show is not how many bugs one can eat on a deserted island. It’s the fight for media democracy over the future of the public airwaves.”
Adelstein added: “Let’s make sure our democracy isn’t voted off the island.”
Amen to that.
