Testimony of Chellie Pingree for the FCC Hearing on Localism

June 28, 2007, Portland, Maine
 
Chellie Pingree, North Haven, Maine

Members of the Federal Communications Commission:
 
Thank you very much for holding this hearing in Maine.  As you can see, we are a state that cares deeply about the issues of media ownership.  I also want to thank you for allowing me to convey a few of my thoughts to you.  I look at this issue from a variety of perspectives -- until earlier this year, I was the national president of Common Cause and prior to that I served for eight years as the state senator from Knox county and for four years as the Maine Senate Majority Leader. I have also been a small business owner much of my life. 
 
I the past four years of working at Common Cause, I received a tremendous education on the policy, laws and regulations regarding media ownership.  As you know well, during this time the issue of media ownership and reform went from the obscure domain of "geeks, lawyers and activists" to a subject of national debate and litigation as well as congressional action.
 

During the first month of my job in Washington in 2003, I was asked to speak on behalf of the members of Common Cause at a convening in Chicago held by Commissioner's Copps and Adelstein.  In preparing for the first speech, I considered which examples from own experience as an elected official and candidate would reflect the importance of local ownership.  At that gathering, I told this story from Maine which I have repeated many times -- including in the movie "Outfoxed."
 
I was a first-time candidate for the legislature in 1992 -- running for the state senate in Knox and Waldo counties.  It was a district of about 19 towns an hour and a half drive up Route 1 from where you are sitting.  I was a total "unknown" -- from one of the smallest towns in the district -- running against a very well known opponent who was expected to win.  At that time the district was covered by four local newspapers and about 6 radio stations. It was unusual to attend any community meeting without at least two reporters in the room with tape recorders and microphones collecting information for the next morning's news broadcast. 
 
The largest station in the area was WMCM/WRKD in Rockland -- you would hear it playing in the background of every local boatyard and garage; it was the place the fishermen turned to for the latest updates on the weather; and it was the place you could count on hearing the Augusta broadcast of the local high school basketball teams if they made it to the tournament.  One room of the broadcast studio was located right on Maine street which meant that as you walked down the sidewalk, you would see news man Don Shields sitting in the window wearing his headphones and talking into the microphone.  He would always acknowledge you with a smile and maybe even mention to his listeners that another "local politician" walked by.
 
In the last month of that campaign, my opponent and I had a live debate from the studio at 6:30 on a Sunday night.  It was broadcast only on the AM Station-- but the race had gotten a little hot and it turned out that everyone listened to it-- even if they had to sit in their car to access an am radio. That debate changed the outcome of the race, and, it certainly taught me the enormous power of the ability of local radio to inform the public shift their opinion.
 
I really saw that power a few years later when I was representing the city of Rockland in the senate -- and while this is yet another local story -- I think that it serves as a great example of how local ownership can have an tremendous influence on how the public makes decisions.  It is the model of what we should expect of the owners of our media.
 
Rockland has a great history as a fishing and fish processing town, but by the mid 1990s the fishing fleet had seriously dwindled and the city was looking for ways to revitalize the economy of this very pretty sea-coast town.   It was having a hard time shaking it's reputation as the working neighbor to the tourist town of Camden -- in fact they were known as "Camden by the Sea and Rockland by the smell."  A key source of the problem was the under-designed local sewer plant that was overtaxed with the waste from a seaweed processing plant that was also a big source of jobs and income for the city.  On two separate occasions, the vote to authorize the money to fix the problem had been turned down by the community and it looked like Rockland was never going become the new city it wanted to be. 
 
In those days Peter Orne owned the station and he exemplified the kind of owner who understood his obligation. He was active in the community and in a variety of businesses and, while a devoted Republican, clearly believed that he should use his station to make sure that all voices were heard.  Frustrated by the sewer debate, he decided that the stations should host a two hour forum about this issues -- something a manager who's programming was coming from halfway across the country could never do.  He had every point of view represented, presented plenty of information, and did it all in front of a live audience with call in questions.  People finally had the information they needed to make a good decision soon there after there was an overwhelming vote to do something about the problem.  Rockland is now a vital and thriving community.
 
Peter is sadly no longer with us and after the Telecom Act of 1996 half of the radio stations in the Midcoast area became Clear Channel properties -- operated by strangers a long way from Main Street.  Today the only radio studio in the county belongs to a LPFM station -- where they gallantly work to be a local voice with volunteers and little or no money, but honestly it is just not the same.
 
This story could be repeated across Maine and across the country.  You will have a chance to hear from several of our wonderful state legislators, city councilors and other elected officials today and I am sure that many will echo what I observed during my days in the state capitol -- that increasingly there are fewer and few reporters covering our state legislature, local governments and local elections.  I have seen a big change since I first ran in 1992 and my daughter Hannah, who now serves in the state legislature as the house majority leader, tells me that the change is striking even in the five years she has been serving.  There is not enough coverage and insufficient diversity of opinions.
 
Of course, there have been a tremendous numbers of studies that reinforce those things that the story of Rockland radio reflects and I know you will hear a lot of that data today.  Clearly, the national trend mirrors our experiences in Maine.  In an analysis of political campaigns done in 2002, campaign ads outnumbered news stories 4 to 1 and almost 60% of the broadcasts contained no election coverage -- and when it did, nearly half of that coverage focused on the horserace or strategy of the campaign -- not the issues in the dace.
 
Studies of local public affairs programming show that most local stations do none whatsoever and those that do provide a minimal amount.  An analysis of FCC data showed that broadcast TV stations air less than 15 minutes of public affairs programming per month on average.
 
While many people argue that this is no longer an issue, given the number of people who access their information from the internet -- a 2006 survey shows that 33 of the respondents said that local TV news was their most often used source of local news compared with 5 of those who said that they depended on the internet.
 
I firmly believe that the rules regarding media consolidation should favor localism.  I also believe that the weakening of the licensing requirements from a vigorous community based process that used to occur every three years to the toothless system that many refer to as "eight years and a postcard, " has had a terrible effect.  This, along with the loss and weakening of rules like the "Fairness Doctrine," and "equal time" provisions have undermined the ability of the public to access good information and made it much more difficult for those in elected office to have an honest and open dialogue with the public on the critical issues of our time -- from health care to taxes and global warming to the decision to go to war.
 
 You all carry a heavy weight on your shoulders and bear a large responsibility to ensure that we live in a well informed democracy. I believe that there is much damage to be undone. I thank you for coming to the great state of Maine to listen to so many strong voices and I beg you to take the actions necessary to reverse this trend.