The Federal Communications Commission's dissident Democratic commissioner, Michael Copps--who has emerged as the public face of the underdog struggle to keep longstanding rules limiting media consolidation in place--declared open war against the FCC's Republican chairman last week by unilaterally announcing plans to bring his battle to Seattle. Copps will hold a hearing on the consolidation issue at the University of Washington on March 7.

In a February 5 speech, Copps announced the Seattle event, sponsored by the UW's Shidler Center for Law, Commerce & Technology, and a second hearing later in the month at Duke University in North Carolina, saying that they were necessary "in order to increase public access to the Commission before the most important decision we will make this year."

The FCC will decide this summer whether to loosen or eliminate rules that limit the size and clout of media companies in local and national markets. The rules, put in place to foment media diversity, have come under assault in recent federal court decisions. And FCC Chairman Michael Powell, something of a deregulationist ideologue, has argued that they are outdated given the rise of new media outlets like cable television and the Internet.

In pushing for a relaxation, Powell has won near unanimous support from major media powers chafing at the existing limits on their growth, as well as from some powerful Republican legislators. Just a few months ago the easing of the restrictions appeared all but inevitable, but Copps has put Powell on the defensive recently by announcing his intent to organize and attend high-profile regional hearings on the proposed changes, including the one in Seattle.

Powell was dismissive of Copps' announcement. Citing the 13,000 public comments the FCC has already received on the issue, the FCC chair, in a press release issued the same day, stated, "In the digital age you don't need a 19th-century whistle stop tour to hear from America." He went further the following day, downgrading the Copps hearings from "official" events to unofficial "field" hearings.

Still, local media activists with reclaimthemedia.org were thrilled by the announcement, and plan a full slate of events to coincide with the FCC hearing.

sandeep@thestranger.com