Pulling out all stops to prevent the FCC from gutting media ownership limits

If you or your constituents want to be part of the fight to stop Big Media, the clock is ticking.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin plans to call a vote at the FCC's monthly meeting tomorrow on his proposal to allow more media consolidation. Hundreds of national, state, and local organizations are mobilizing to turn up the heat on Martin to cancel the vote and establish a fair process for public input. We need to deal with crucial issues of localism and minority media ownership before considering any new rules.

But Martin seems to be done listening to the public, so our main pressure point right now is the Senate's bipartisan Media Ownership Act of 2007 (S. 2332).

We think there is a good chance to push off the FCC's vote if we can show enough public and congressional opposition. That will take thousands of phone calls to Capitol Hill to make sure our elected leaders understand how urgent this issue is.

Contact your senators -- and urge your members and allies to do the same. The bill already has 20 bipartisan co-sponsors -- but even those members could use your thanks and encouragement.

We have some momentum: Last week U.S. Senators from both parties berated Martin about his plans to allow more media consolidation. The House held its own oversight hearing and has launched a formal investigation into the way the FCC conducts business.

We are pulling out all the stops to hold off Martin's vote on Tuesday. We've created a virtual "wall" of opposition -- built of photos of activists who are standing up against Big Media.

And we just launched a 3-minute video -- "Junk News is Making Us Sick" -- to spread the word. It's worth watching, and I hope you'll pass it along or put it up on your Web site.

You can find out much more by visiting our stopbigmedia.com Web site.