Jay Inslee: “last Friday, the FCC held the last of six public hearings about proposed changes to media ownership rules. They did so…”

“last Friday, the FCC held the last of six public hearings about proposed changes to media ownership rules. They did so in Seattle after I called for that meeting so that people in the State of Washington could let their government know what they thought. It was really an unbelievable showing at this hearing. The FCC callously only gave them 5 days' notice. But still it is estimated that 1,000 people showed up on a Friday night for a 9-hour hearing that ended up at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. Most Friday nights Americans won't be going out to hearings. But in Puget Sound country, and indeed across the country, people understand how important a media consolidation could be as a threat to our diversity and our democracy, and 1,000 people showed up to testify. I encouraged my constituents to attend. I want to credit Reclaim the Media, the Free Press and the Seattle Times who also got the word out about this important hearing. At the hearing, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein prophetically stated that if the FCC quickly proposed a new rule, ``you know your input was dismissed.'' He was right, unfortunately.”