COPPS, ADELSTEIN RALLY MEDIA ACTIVISTS FOR NEW OWNERSHIP BATTLE

Copps and Adelstein celebrated the 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals, Philadelphia, rejection and remanding of the FCC’s media ownership rules, which Adelstein called “probably the biggest victory in the history of the media democracy movement.” Copps said the FCC needed to revise the ownership rules “relatively quickly, and if we do it correctly, we'll end up with airwaves of, by and for the American people.” They warned the fight over new rules would be hard because big-media lobbyists would be working the FCC hard. Adelstein said he, Copps and the court had called for more public input this go-round. He said the 2 would reprise their road show of unofficial media concentration hearings, this time hopefully with Commission sanction.

A staffer for Rep. Farr (D-Cal.), who represents the area, read a letter to the FCC’s Localism Task Force signed by Farr and 21 other Democratic members of Cal.’s House delegation urging “strengthened licensing and ownership standards” to address “widespread concern over media concentration.” “No more than 25 stations for one corporation,” Richmond, Cal., resident David Barber urged the Commissioners -- to which an audience member shouted, “One station!”

“The ultimate reality show is not how many bugs someone can eat on a deserted island,” Copps said. “The ultimate reality show is this fight over democracy and the right to control the public airwaves.” Copps received sustained applause for this and several other statements, seeming to become the audience favorite after Adelstein received the warmer response on introduction. “It’s a real breath of fresh air to be out of Washington,” Adelstein said. “It’s a bit of a swamp there in more ways than one.”

Wed. night’s 5-1/2 hour hearing in this small resort city was a lopsided affair, though the FCC had said it sought a broad range of views. Comr. Martin was absent, along with Powell. Both had scheduling conflicts, spokesmen said. One audience speaker referred to them as “AWOL.” Comr. Abernathy chaired the event, but was much less outspoken than her 2 Democratic colleagues. Commercial broadcasters were considerably outnumbered by critics among 13 featured panelists.

Telemundo, Bonneville International and Hearst-Argyle Television, which has made a recognized commitment to public affairs, were the biggest media groups represented by station employees as panelists on the dais. Panelist DJ Davey D of Pacifica’s KPFA-FM in Berkeley received thunderous applause and a partial standing ovation after being allowed double the allotted 5 min. to discuss corporate practices, including what he described as a cynical “smoke and mirrors” strategy of community involvement. He later took up, for another 3 min., Adelstein’s open-ended invitation to speak further. Adelstein acknowledged the loud favorable response to panelist John Connolly, AFTRA pres., who denounced what he called the sacrifice of localism to “the bottom line.”

Broadcasters highlighted their news, public affairs and educational programming, PSAs and other support of civic and community groups. Eduardo Dominguez, gen. Mgr.-Telemundo’s KSTS-TV San Jose, told how his station explained to its Hispanic audience how to open a checking account and how immigrants should deal with the public schools, and presented news from Mexico and El Salvador. He, along with Joseph Heston, gen. mgr.-Hearst Argyle’s KSBW-TV Salinas, and other commercial broadcasters insisted community commitment was simply good business -- a much more effective impetus than regulation. They said affiliation with big companies only strengthened their localism by providing additional resources, such as by making available govt. capital bureau stories on local issues. (Heston also pleaded for help from Washington on cable and satellite must-carry of broadcasters’ digital signals and clarity on indecency, especially in news, and on stations’ ability to reject network programming.) Representatives of the United Way of Monterey County and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children gave local broadcasters high praise for their support. “Sometimes they run the PSAs so much even I get tired of them,” said Kim Greer, National Steinbeck Center dir.

But one audience speaker after another joined several panelists in denouncing local commercial broadcasters for what they contended was trivializing and largely ignoring state and local politics, ethnic and minority groups and local musicians and other artists. Copps and Adelstein called U. of Southern Cal. data on broadcasters’ coverage of state and local election campaigns “damning.” Adelstein’s solicitation of a response from NAB representatives went unanswered. Members of the audience repeatedly mentioned public affairs programming running in the wee hours of the morning.

“We need some green space in the strip mall of commercial media,” said panelist Sean McLaughlin, CEO-Akaku: Maui Community Television, in support of mandatory access set-asides. Spectator Tuyen Nguyen said Vietnamese were leaving Monterey County because they felt “left out” and put some blame on lack of media interest. Panelist Harry Robbins, Monterey County Emergency Services Mgr., said with more and more local operations automated he sometimes can’t reach anyone to run crisis announcements after hours. Audience member John Higgins, board pres.-San Francisco Community Television, complained listeners can’t even expect to get the local time on the radio, let alone deeper information.

Almost 800 people attended, including 200 in an overflow room, the FCC said, though the main hall never quite filled. Few speakers identified themselves as from outside the Monterey and San Francisco bay areas. This was the only localism hearing scheduled west of the Dakotas. Paul Johnston of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council mocked the Commission for choosing such an isolated and wealthy city as the venue. Another speaker complained of poor publicity of the hearing by local broadcasters.

Most of the audience responded enthusiastically to critiques of broadcasters and the Commission, and raucously to the harshest. Northern Cal. media activists, notably the Media Alliance, were out in force. That group and others including the region’s Media Workers Guild/Typographical Union, Free Press and Project Censored had rallied about 50 people outside the conference center before the hearing to protest media concentration and FCC policies. Media Alliance Exec. Dir. Jeff Perlstein, speaking from the hearing audience, noted his group was a lead plaintiff in the 3rd Circuit case and called on the FCC to put more teeth in license renewal, with more local accountability; revive the fairness doctrine; collect “rent” for the “public airwaves”; and require more public affairs in prime time.

Proceedings briefly became heated a few times. Spectator-speaker India Weeks decried what she said was FCC dismissal of her complaint against DJ Mikey Esparza and played tapes from his show of a song making light of “statutory rape” and of a dirty joke purportedly told by a 4- year-old girl, a recurring character. A male associate of the woman’s loudly denounced Abernathy from his seat, accusing her of casting the decisive vote against the complaint. The Commissioner responded that the matter had been handled at the bureau level and that the programming was clearly indecent and “we've got to go after him,” meaning Esparza. Earlier, after the first few audience speakers had made pointed political statements, panelist Harry Pappas, Pappas Telecasting CEO, intervened to solicit “light” instead of “heat.” As he went on, he was drowned out by audience members protesting that he was taking their comment time. Pappas wound up as moderator Belva Davis of San Francisco PBS station KQED politely told him it wasn’t his turn. On a couple other occasions, spectators loudly fought Abernathy’s efforts to call breaks.

But Abernathy’s brief lecture at the beginning about allowing all views was either unnecessary or heeded. Audience members politely applauded broadcast representatives who outlined community and public affairs efforts, and the conspicuous guard of Monterey police had little to do.