town meeting on the future of the media

On October 5, 2005, more than 500 people packed the Pomerantz Center at the University of Iowa to participate in a forum on media ownership.

Featured guests, including FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, implored the public to stay involved in the debate and continue to make their voices heard on the issue.

The event featured panel discussions with community leaders and local media makers on how increasing concentration of ownership affects local news and information, followed by an open microphone session. The crowd lined up for nearly three hours to offer public testimony on the quality of local news coverage, increasing commercialism, and the impact of media giants such as Clear Channel and Sinclair Broadcasting.

Commissioner Michael Copps was unable to attend the hearing because of a family emergency. But Adelstein and Jordan Goldstein, Copps' senior legal adviser, listened attentively until nearly midnight, as more than 100 concerned citizens each offered two minutes of testimony.

The event was videotaped by Josh Goding of PATV, and has been broken down into segments of approximately 10 minutes each.

This Video On Demand feature is available only to Interactive Channel 5 viewers, but complete audio files are available for web browser use at the freepress.net site.