Michael Copps, liberal voice on the FCC: "He's the first FCC commissioner-rock star"

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Copps, a liberal voice on the FCC, knows how to get his message out
He speaks bluntly to the industry and rouses the grass roots.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2007

WASHINGTON — His dark suits. His wing-tipped shoes. The nearly four decades he's toiled in the nation's capital, including the last six years on the Federal Communications Commission. Everything about Michael J. Copps screams bureaucrat -- until he opens his mouth. Copps, a Democrat whose crusade against media consolidation has helped make him Hollywood's public-policy enemy No. 1, is more proselytizer than pencil pusher.

The public airwaves, he says, are filled with "too much baloney passed off as news." The Republican-led FCC is so lax that "unless you're a child abuser or a wife beater, it's a slam-dunk" to renew a TV station license. "Our country is paying a dreadful cost for this quarter-century fling with government abdication and media irresponsibility," he said this year.

Copps' ability to distill the complexities of media ownership into plain English and fire up crowds like a revivalist preacher helped derail an industry push in 2003 to loosen restrictions on owning broadcast stations. Now, as the FCC prepares to tackle the volatile issue again, with Chairman Kevin J. Martin proposing a vote on new rules by the end of the year, the 67-year-old former history professor is reemerging as a hero to the firebrands fighting media consolidation.

In a city where officials speak in bland pronouncements, blurring their message with acronyms and jargon, Copps stands out like high-definition TV. "He's the first FCC commissioner-rock star," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a public policy law firm that has fought media consolidation.

Combining his historian's skill of framing an issue with political acumen he learned on Capitol Hill, Copps is regarded by supporters and critics as perhaps the most effective FCC commissioner ever from the minority party. If a Democrat wins the White House next year, FCC observers said, Copps would be on the list of potential chairmen, although the 2005 retirement of his top political backer, former Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), lengthens the odds. At the least, Copps could serve as temporary head for several months until a new chairman is selected and confirmed....

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-copps5nov05,1,4553180,full.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[wtmusic]

1. And one of the ways he gets his message out

is by speaking at public forums on his own dime about media ownership rules (the FCC won't cover his travel expenses).

Huge, huge issue that is unfortunately still under the radar for most Americans.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I didn't know that -- thanks for posting, wtmusic. nt