That’s as in protecting the public interest. Written on the stationary of Common Cause, public interest groups want an FCC chair committed to promoting diversity, increasing competition, improving political transparency and keeping the internet open.
The group would also like to discourage further media consolidation.
The letter to Obama used his own words. The coalition stated, “In the Senate and in your first presidential campaign, you clearly voiced your opposition to further media industry consolidation. You spoke forcefully on this subject in 2007, saying, ‘I believe that the nation’s media ownership rules remain necessary and are critical to the public interest. We should be doing much more to encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and establish greater clarity in the public interest obligations of broadcasters occupying the nation’s spectrum.’”
The group would like a chair who will go over proposed media mergers with a fine-toothed comb to make sure they are interests of citizens; that will look out for special needs citizens, with particular mention of visually or aurally impaired people; and that will fight to keep the access to the internet unimpeded by upholding the concept of network neutrality.”
The group concluded, “We strongly urge you to nominate a new FCC Chair and new Commissioner who are committed to faithfully implementing the media policies you have championed during your career in public service.”
Here are the groups that signed the letter:
Access Humboldt
Alternate ROOTS
American Council of the Blind (ACB)
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA)
Art IS Change
Benton Foundation
California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CCASDHH)
Center for Media Justice (CMJ)
Cerebral Palsy and Deaf Organization (CPADO)
Chicago Media Action
Common Cause
Common Frequency
Consumers Union
Children Now
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network (DHHCAN)
Fight for the Future
Free Press Action Fund
Global Action Project (GAP)
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)
Highlander Research and Education Center
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
May First/People Link
Media Action Center
Media Action Grassroots Network
Main Street Project
Media Alliance
Media Literacy Project
Media Mobilizing Project
Media Policy Initiative
Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN)
National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians (NABET-CWA)
National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
Native Public Media
New York Tech Meetup
Open Technology Institute
Personal Democracy Media
Public Knowledge
Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI)
The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA)
Ting/Hover
Tribal Digital Village Network
Tucows, Inc
United Church of Christ, Office of Communication, Inc .(UCC OC)
William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI)
Young People’s Project
