In another interesting op-ed in today's edition of The New York Times (the other coming from former GOP Senator Edward Brooke), FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps slams the television networks for barely covering the two major-party nominating conventions this year. As he mentions, it is interesting that he, a Democrat, is complaining about the lack of coverage of the Republican National Convention. I think it shows his true dedication to the merits of the issue rather than mere partisanship. He writes,

Let's remember that American citizens own the public airwaves, not TV executives. We give broadcasters the right to use these airwaves for free in exchange for their agreement to broadcast in the public interest. They earn huge profits using this public resource. During this campaign season broadcasters will receive nearly $1.5 billion from political advertising.

What do we get in return for granting TV stations free use of our airwaves? Unfortunately, when it comes to coverage of issues important to our nation, the answer is less and less. Coverage of the 2000 presidential election on the network evening news dropped by a third compared to reporting on the 1996 election. During the last election cycle we heard directly from presidential candidates for an average of 9 seconds a night on the news. Local races? Forget it. In 2002 - the most recent midterm elections - more than half of local newscasts contained no campaign coverage at all. Local coverage has diminished to the point that campaign ads outnumber campaign stories by four to one. What coverage there is focuses inordinately on polls and handicapping the horse race.

It is of course interesting when a media critic such as Ken Auletta of The New Yorker or Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post to take such a hard stand on this issue, but its even more meaningful when a person in a position of power such as Copps writes such a piece.

Not only attacking the media for it's poor coverage, both in terms of quality and quantity, Copps singles out the Federal Communications Commission itself for negligence. He writes that not only has the FCC done nothing to alleviate the situation, they have in fact exacerbated it by attempting to loosen restrictions on media ownership. Perhaps if John Kerry were elected in the fall, Copps will be named head of the FCC and real change can occur.

Copps ends with a call to the American people to take a stand on this issue.

Whether we are Democrats, Republicans or independents, we all can agree that democracy depends on well-informed citizens. So as you flip through the channels tonight while the convention is largely ignored, consider whether TV broadcasters, sustained by free access to the public airwaves in exchange for programming in the public interest, are holding up their end of the deal.

I couldn't have said it better myself.