I've resisted writing about the upcoming FCC vote scheduled for June 2nd not because of lack of interest on my part but rather because of my assumption, accurate or not, that someone reading here is likely to have already seen posts or stories about the issues at stake elsewhere. This past Friday(the 23rd) Bill Moyers' "Now" PBS show had an excellent segment on the pending vote, as did Eric Boelert of Salon in his article 'the Big Blackout" from earlier this past week.

from Boelert:

according to most press accounts, the outcome at the FCC has already been determined, with the three Republican FCC commissioners committed to a yes vote on easing ownership limits, and the two Democratic commissioners opposing the change. Come June 2, the FCC is expected to overturn decades-old rules and allow one company to own both a newspaper and a television station in the same market, acquire many more local affiliate stations, and own up to three TV stations in a single large market. The FCC is expected, however, to retain the rule forbidding any two of America's four broadcast networks from merging.

The bottom line is that one company could own television, radio and newspaper outlets in the same market. And, in theory, NBC could purchase Gannett and become the country's largest newspaper publisher.

I sometimes get the impression that web log readers rarely click the links offered, although I'm really operating in a vacuum of awareness here, and don't really know. Nevertheless, here are some links you really should be clicking on:

www.moveon.org/stopthefcc/

www.commoncause.org/action/petition

and don't forget house.gov and senate.gov, where you can get fax and phone numbers for your congressman and senators. They really should hear from you. Here in Texas, the phone nos. are

202-224-2934 for John Cornyn and 202-224-5922 for Kay Bailey Hutchison.