But the Information Age has converted the once-moribund FCC into a bureaucratic powerhouse. The commission oversees an infrastructure of airwaves, telephone lines, and cable conduits that are the backbone of a $950 billion-a-year industry. As the financial stakes have risen, the private-sector lobbyists have become increasingly adept at peddling their pro-business agenda to the FCC. And the Bush-appointed commission, led by Beltway scion Michael K. Powell, is eager to acquiesce -- a sad trend chronicled in "Losing Signal."

Since the article's publication last summer, the FCC has proven itself adept at demolishing regulations intended to insure diversity and fairness. The commission's willingness to approve long-distance applications from the "Baby Bell" phone companies, for instance, virtually guarantees the return of regional telco monopolies.

Yet the mainstream press has raised few warnings about the FCC's squashing of the public interest. Quite the opposite, in fact -- business sections cheer the consolidation as a sign of robust economic health, and pooh-pooh concerns over diversity as alarmism.

There are few communications activists, at least compared to the legions of lawyers and lobbyists retained by Big Media and Big Telco. The most prominent muckrakers are Jeff Chester at the Center for Digital Democracy (democraticmedia.org), the folks at the Media Access Project (mediaaccess.org), and the Project on Media Ownership (promo.org). But without more public support, they're bound to have a tough time taking on the FCC.

-- Brendan Koerner: