Court stays FCC rules

A federal court has blocked the new FCC ownership rules which were supposed to go into effect on Thursday. There still are going to be demonstrations Thursday in San Francisco, LA, DC, NYC, Chicago, and other cities protesting the new rules (see the end of this for an update on a vote in the Senate Thursday).

This ruling gives people more time to organize to get congress to permanently block them and to let Bush know that protecting media giants should not be something he uses his first veto for.

The Hollywood Reporter has a brief article (links added). I'm sure there will be more extensive info later (including this NY Times article.

FCC ownership changes on hold as court grants stay

By Brooks Boliek

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the FCC's new media ownership rules from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Philadelphia issued an emergency stay preventing the FCC from loosening ownership rules on local television and radio stations pending further proceedings.

The court said a coalition of media access groups called the Prometheus Radio Project [actually one group in the coalition] would suffer irreparable harm if the new rules were allowed to go into effect.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, executive director of the Media Access Project, said that it was "pleased but that they knew that a lot of work was ahead of them."

Schwartzman said that while they were encouraged by the court's decision, they realize that it was not a slam dunk, because the court went out of its way to say that the order was granted under the "special circumstances" presented by case. Nevertheless, he said, "The tide has turned."...

And here is an update on what is happening in congress:

From: Robert McChesney
Date Wed, 3 Sep 2003

Subject [FP] Action Alert: Crucial Senate vote on Thurs

The fight to roll back the FCC media ownership rules is far from over.
The Senate Appropriations Committee votes this Thursday evening on the rollback. Intense pressure — this time through a national phone campaign — is absolutely critical to our success. Congressional staffers say calls are highly effective.

If you are a resident of AL, CA, CO, IA, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NV, OH, PA, WI, or WV, your call is to your Senator who sits on the Committee. Your Senator's vote could be the difference between victory and defeat.

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Article Author: Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes is a journalist and photographer in San Francisco.

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