Byron Dorgan: “I wish to talk about the Media Ownership Act of 2007 for just a moment. This issue is very important. It has been around…”

“I wish to talk about the Media Ownership Act of 2007 for just a moment. This issue is very important. It has been around for a long time. It deals with media concentration. Some years ago--in 2003--the then- Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell, rounded up two other votes and by a vote of three to two passed a new FCC rule allowing a relaxation of ownership limits for television and radio stations, and for newspapers, and here is what they concluded back then. It is almost unbelievable. They said it will be OK with them if, in the largest American cities, one company owned eight radio stations, three television stations, the newspaper, and the cable company--they would all be owned by the same company. They said that would be just dandy. Well, the fact is, it was not fine with me, and I fought it. Senator Lott joined me back then. We offered a resolution of disapproval of the FCC rule and it passed the Senate.”