As the discussion intensifies over the proposed media ownership rule changes, 42 Democrats from the House of Representatives have signed off on a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, urging him to take his time with any changes. Last week, it was revealed that Martin was hoping to move up the timetable for the ownership rules to have a vote from the FCC on December 18.

In the House letter, led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), the House Democrats wrote that "We believe that [moving up the timetable] are reminiscent of the bad behavior that resulted in an intervention by the Third Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals in your agency's efforts on media ownership three years ago. Therefore, we hope that you will immediately take steps to resolve significant shortcomings in your plan regarding accountability, transparency, and scientific integrity."

They added, "We are highly alarmed by news that you plan to hold a commission vote on these proposed changes within the next two months. Such action would make public comment on the new rules impossible. After all of the controversy that this proceeding has generated over the past four years, we believe that another round of public commentary is essential before a final vote. At its heart, the debate over the future of media ownership in America is a debate over the future of our democracy. Therefore, we hope you will agree that the Federal Communications Commission must do everything it can to be able to honestly say that it is ending this proceeding after having considered every factor on behalf of the public whose airwaves it purports to represent."

The House members again raised questions surrounding the FCC's ten studies on media consolidation, asking about "the FCC's failure to reveal how it recruited individuals to conduct these studies; the agency's subsequent hiring of one of the authors to be its new chief economist (raising troubling questions regarding conflicts of interest); confusion over how the FCC decided to focus the research on its ten chosen topics; and serious mismanagement of the peer review process that is normally used to guarantee the scientific validity of the generated work."

"Chairman Martin's proposal would only serve to further shrink an already limited diversity of opinion found among American news outlets," Hinchey said, "His plan is the exact opposite of what is needed in this country. The FCC ought to be looking for ways to expand the variety of viewpoints and diversity of ownership rather than limiting and further consolidating them."

In related news, AFTRA announced yesterday that over 2,000 of its members had written to legislators asking them to stop the FCC from rushing to make any changes to the media ownership rules.