Who Says You Can't Fight City Hall?

Mostly out of the public eye, and almost totally without preliminary hearings, the three Republican dittoheads on the Federal Communications Commission recently used their majority to approve an "update" of the rules governing mass media ownership.

In so doing, they hoped to present an early Christmas gift to the fatcats in communications and an undeserved finger to the viewing and reading masses.

Remarkably, Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy, although she reportedly attended none of the very few public hearings on the proposed new rules, confidently proclaimed, "I am satisfied that we have the information and the input we need to make a sound, judicially sustainable decision that will benefit the public interest."

Judiciously sustainable it might well be, but unless the "public" to which she referred was a small coterie of public figures in the Rupert Murdoch weight class, the soundness of their decision was about on the level of a massive investment in lottery tickets.

Specifically, what the FCC did was "update" the existing rules to permit, for example, Viacom, Disney and AOL Time Warner to gobble up enough TV stations to control nearly half of the national viewing audience, allow owners of "only" two stations in large cities to acquire a third, and, in most cities, remove the prohibition against cross-ownership of television stations and newspapers.

The net result, predictably, would be a sandstorm of mergers and acquisitions which would leave far more information and entertainment outlets under the control of far fewer owners. This would not, you may rest unassured, be in the best interest of the public of which us-all are a part.

Those of us whose life span is admittedly approaching that of native moss can recall when major cities, my native Philadelphia included, had at least two morning and two evening newspapers daily, usually with divergent editorial views. Today, by contrast, there is in my adopted Miami and elsewhere only one morning bladder, the positions of which are about as flexible and unpredictable as the average I-beam.

In my City-Of-Brotherly-Love boyhood, there was also a treasure-trove of local radio/TV stations, with live talent, studio bands, original programming, and genuine journalists behind the microphone (John Facenda, to name just one).

Typical today in most areas is single ownership of multiple stations, all so highly automated that one boardmeister can operate them simultaneously, leaning heavily on prerecorded cartridges, remote network feeds and push-button technology.

Had it succeeded, the FCC's end-run around public scrutiny would have made a bad situation worse, but it encountered that one monster most feared by bureaucrats, influence peddlers and special interests - an informed and aroused electorate.

We of the politically unwashed masses are usually content to mutter into our beers or teacups, wring our hands, curse our stars and silently suffer the slings and arrows sent our way by the powers that be.

In this case, however, a reported million-plus of us stormed the bastions of the F.C.C. and forded the moats surrounding our elected dulligates to Congress behind a massive "hell, no!" banner. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee described it as "sparking more interest than any issue I've ever seen that wasn't organized by a huge lobby."

Score one for Vox Pop - the voice of the people!

Spurring that public outcry was an eclectic gaggle of groups including such unlikely bedfellows as The National Rifle Association, National Organization for Women, Consumers Union and the United States Conference of Catholics (that last group knowing more than a little about the power of public protest).

As a result, a bill is slogging through the Senatorial swamp with uncharacteristic speed which would not only spoil the media moguls' Christmas, but would more than reverse the FCC proposals, actually loosening the noose on our present information squeeze. Among other things, it would require some shedding of holdings by the existing fatcats.

With a show of bi-partisan support that was totally lacking in the FCC proposal, the reversing legislation breezed through McCain's Commerce Committee on a voice vote, and appears heaven-bent for approval in the full Senate.

That's the good news, folks, and the proof that we, the "American people" so often mentioned by politicians, need not be the sheep they hope we will be. City Hall CAN be fought...and defeated!

Howsomever, as Yogi Berra reminded us, "the game ain't over until it's over," and it will be played out in the ball park of the House of Reprehensibles, where the loins of the opposition are being girded by a coalition of lobbyists and political contributors with sheaves of IOUs in hand.

It's the bottom of the ninth...time for the home team to step up to bat.

Be sure to let your designated hitter in the House know what you want!