SEATTLE MEDIA OWNERSHIP FIELD HEARING
STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. MCDOWELL
Thank you all for welcoming us to Seattle.  I am pleased to be here, at the last of 
our series of media ownership field hearings, to gather information from our 
distinguished panelists and from the audience on the service that broadcasters provide to 
this community and how ownership of broadcasting outlets affects that service.
Seattle is home to two daily newspapers, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-
Intelligencer.  There are 17 television stations in the Seattle-Tacoma market, licensed to
13 different entities.  Lastly, 77 radio stations, controlled by 43 owners, serve the Seattle 
area.  
I look forward to hearing from you this evening about how the ownership of these 
media properties affects you as viewers, listeners, readers, businesspeople, consumers 
and citizens. Are broadcasters providing this community with the local information and 
support it needs?  Are broadcast stations still your primary source for local news and
information?  Is the Internet, with blogs and other alternative sources of content, really 
competing with traditional broadcasting for local coverage?  Armed with this 
information, and guided by our policy goals of competition, localism and diversity, we at 
the FCC will analyze today’s media marketplace and determine if and how our rules 
should change.  
To our panelists and audience members -- thank you for being here today and for 
participating in our hearing.  We value your opinions.