KC Media Watch Alert #8:
 

Bring FCC vote to the floor!

Dear Subscribers to KC Media Watch,

Several past KC Media Watch alerts have focused on Federal Communication Commission (FCC) rule changes that would pave the way for more media monopolies while eroding fair, independent, and diverse media coverage. Below is an alert from MoveOn (www.moveon.org) about what we can do right now to hold onto the progress we've made in blocking the rule changes--and keep Republican leaders from hijacking the process. Please read and take three simple steps to act!

Thank you!

KC Media Watch

THE PROBLEM
The campaign to block the FCC's disastrous loosening of media ownership rules has reached a make-or-break moment in Congress.

On September 16, we won an historic victory. In response to 3 million Americans like you who contacted the FCC and Congress demanding a rollback, the Senate voted by an overwhelming bipartisan margin -- 55 to 40 -- to strike down the entire package of FCC media ownership rule changes through a "resolution of disapproval."

Now Republican leaders in the House -- Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay -- are rejecting the democratic process. Hastert says he has no plans to allow a vote on the resolution in the House, and House leadership has called it "dead on arrival." They won't permit a vote because they don't want it to pass.

THE ACTION
1. Call Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Tom Delay and ask them to stop blocking a vote.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
(202) 225-0600

Majority Leader Tom DeLay
(202) 225-4000

Let the staffer you speak with know that you're calling to urge the Speaker
and Majority Leader to allow a vote on the resolution of disapproval
regarding the FCC's media ownership rule changes. You may want to add that
by not allowing a vote, the Speaker and Majority Leader are ignoring the
will of the public, the courts and their own colleagues. (The resolution is
SJ Res 17, sponsored by Representative Leach)

2. Please let KC Media Watch know when you've made your call by e-mailing: kcmediawatch@yahoo.com

And---let MoveOn know when the you've made your call at:
http://www.moveon.org/fcccall.html?id=1784-1337592-XEqcUUeVZyTnWtx8I5B_wg

3. Thank Rep. Dennis Moore (KS) and Rep. Karen McCarthy (MO), who have already signed on to an open letter to the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert asking him to allow the resolution to come to a vote. Below are their numbers and suggestions on what to say.

(If you have a different representative, visit http://www.mediareform.net/callcongress  and enter your zip code to see what she or he has done.)