Back in March, the Mediamouse.org affiliated Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) issued a media alert asking people to contact their legislators about a resolution that would overturn a December 2007 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling that allowed further consolidation of the media. In a rare victory, last night the Senate cast a near unanimous vote to block the FCC's decision.

Free Press, the group organizing much of the opposition to the FCC's vote, issued the following statement:

"Today's historic Senate vote is a resounding victory for the vast majority of Americans who oppose media consolidation. We applaud the bipartisan leadership of Senators Dorgan and Snowe for acting in the public interest. But to stop Big Media from polluting our local airwaves with more junk journalism and propaganda, we need the House to move this legislation forward quickly.

"At this watershed moment, public outrage against Big Media has reached a breaking point. The Bush administration's threats to undercut this bipartisan effort in Congress show how out of touch this president is with the will of the American people. But we're not going to stand idly by and let the White House green light Big Media's expansion. The great pendulum of political change is swinging away from corrosive consolidation and toward better media."

As always, it's important to remember that these media policy victories are only part of the battle--we still need to work hard to create independent forms of media that exist outside of the corporate media.