Can the FCC Still Ignore the Public?

Abstract

Recent events in the broadcast policy-making system of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have raised the question: can public voices effectively participate in the broadcast policy-making process? This paper examines the factors working against public involvement, as well as those that have made recent intervention possible, especially the growth of the internet and its ability to facilitate more public activity. The authors conducted private in-depth interviews with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson to discuss their exceptional efforts to better involve the public in the policy-making process during their service with the agency. Our analysis shows that the factors facilitating greater public involvement have developed to the point where, at least sometimes, the public and civil society organizations can either block, or at least modify, the demands of entrenched corporate interests.