Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, via IceNineJon on Flickr.

In the city where our Founding Fathers created this great republic, Thomas E. Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recently heard from some very informed and engaged citizens during a closed-door meeting coordinated by Media Mobilizing Project and hosted at the Independence Mall studio of PhillyCAM.

The people in the Sept. 22 meeting represented low-wage workers, persons with disabilities, minority and independently owned media outlets, academics and activists. They eloquently described the state of media in Philadelphia for Chairman Wheeler. More specifically, they described how consolidation in the broadcast, print, broadband and cable telecommunications industries has affected Philadelphia; independent minority owned operators, such as Wilco Electronic Systems, and 900 AM-WURD are struggling to compete, access to hard-nosed investigative reporting that hold those in power accountable to the people is on the decline, and low-income people still have low adoption rates of broadband Internet services in their homes. 

The speakers urged Chairman Wheeler to block the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner, and if it couldn’t be blocked to require even stronger conditions than those required by the Comcast and NBC merger. They even suggested the FCC consider support to municipalities and community organizations to work in their own communities to tackle the digital divide either independently or with Comcast/Time Warner. The participants also pushed the need for net neutrality protections for the poor and those with disabilities. 

Barry Kaufman of Common Cause Pennsylvania represented rural Pennsylvania in the conversation.  He shared that while former Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp created coaxial cable television in our commonwealth, in recent years Barry and his neighbors have faced great challenges in getting cable access. 

Chairman Wheeler listened intently, asked questions and thanked everyone for sharing their points of view. The people he heard from in Philadelphia sang a different tune than the voices he hears daily in Washington, D.C., and he will be better informed for it. To view the chairman’s account of the day, please check out his blog.

Donna Frisby-Greenwood is Philadelphia program director at Knight Foundation.