Not that its going to change what FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and his Republican acolytes on the board are going to do in serving their masters in Big Media, but its nice to at least be able to let them know the majority of the American people think they are a disgrace to the notion of what a public servant is.

This video report on Bill Moyers’ Journal gives an excellent overview of what went down in Seattle and what is at stake with this entire issue. I had a number of friends and colleagues at this event, some of which whose comments were even featured on this piece.

Watch The Video

Visit Reclaim The Media for streaming audio, video and photos as well as compiled news and blog coverage of the Seattle FCC hearing.

Online Video Services also has their coverage of the 11/9 FCC Seattle Public Hearing online.

Rob McCausland of the Alliance For Community Media created this helpful Speakers Log of those giving testimony at the hearing, so you can better identify and find speakers you may be interested in on the above mentioned audio and video files. (Note that these logs pick up about 75 minutes in, though).

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable discusses the Halloween hearing of the FCC when Martin unveiled his latest plan for allowing for dramatic increases in media consolidation (read ‘monopolization’).

The Federal Communications Commission got an earful on the effects of media consolidation on broadcast localism at a public hearing Wednesday , including from its two Democratic commissioners.

According to the Parents Television Council , media consolidation has led to the “destruction of the concept of community standards.” Andrew J. Schwartzman of Media Access Project said most TV stations aren’t operated in the public interest, and radio has abandoned public service altogether. A familiar radio voice, former National Public Radio host and American Federation of Television & Radio Artists officer Bob Edwards , told the FCC not to “fast-track” its consideration of the effects of consolidation.

Read The Full Report Here

Bill Baker’s “Media Briefing” blog also provided good commentary on the Halloween FCC localism hearing Here. His posts contain many links - click through to see.

And yes, this is all the same stuff that we went through back in 2003 with Big Media’s boy Michael Powell, when he was trying to pull the same stunt.

This will never end until we make some systemic changes in the very basis of our legal structure that is allowing for corporations to wield so many rights and powers over our democratic governance process.