1. Smaller station groups overall tended to produce higher quality local newscasts than stations owned by larger companies-by a significant margin. 2. Network affiliated stations tended to produce higher quality newscasts than network owned and operated stations-also by a large margin. 3. Local ownership offered some protection against newscasts being very poor, but did not encourage superior quality.

4. Project for Excellence in Journalism/Pew Survey

In February 2003, the Project For Excellence in Journalism, in collaboration with the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released the results of a poll documenting the frightening fact that the great majority of Americans, 72 percent, have heard "nothing at all" about the current FCC media cross-ownership debate and that only 4 percent of Americans had heard "a lot about the issue." As a result, the musicians write:

In a recent speech you referred to your critics as "noisemakers" using the "usual alarmist political attacks designed just to prevent change." With all due respect, we may be sounding an alarm but we are not alarmist noisemakers. We are the concerned citizens and small business owners whose welfare you are charged to protect. We ask for your respect and protection.

We believe the record demonstrates both the value of existing media ownership rules and the dangers in permitting widespread consolidation of ownership. We also believe the FCC has been negligent in listening to important stakeholder groups, like musicians, recording artists and radio professionals, to ensure their testimony is on the record. The de facto boycott of field hearings by you and Commissioners Abernathy and Martin makes us question how interested some commissioners are in understanding the public's interest in these matters. Finally, a refusal to allow Congress and the public to view and debate your specific proposal would be a tremendous disservice to the American public and the citizens who depend on these media structures for their livelihoods.

We strongly urge you to give the public a true voice in these policies, which will forever alter the way citizens receive their news, information and entertainment

Sincerely,

Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, David Crosby, Neil Diamond, John Doe, Don Henley, Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), Billy Joel, Lenny Kaye, Toby Keith, Ian MacKaye, Ray Manzarek, Ellis L. Marsalis, Jr., Mya, Tim McGraw, Paul D. Miller, Sam Moore, Thurston Moore, Stevie Nicks, Joan Osborne, Van Dyke Parks, Pearl Jam, Sandy Pearlman, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Kevin Richardson, Patti Smith, Stephan Smith, Michael Stipe, Tom Waits, Jennifer Warnes, Saul Williams, and Nancy Wilson.