2006 

The overall goal of the California coalition outreach efforts was to formalize a state-level network that builds on the statewide cable franchising campaign, municipal broadband efforts, and earlier ownership work to bolster the national debate on telecom/ownership issues. Media Alliance engaged and mobilized new partners, with the support of the existing California partners such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition, California Common Cause and Youth Media Council.

Most of the campaign work involved grassroots outreach and organizing around official and unofficial FCC Hearings throughout the state of California. Amazingly, California campaign leaders successfully organized three FCC hearings in a period of three months. The first hearing, which took place in Los Angeles on August 31, was an unofficial public hearing on Media Ownership, driven by the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and aimed primarily at the Latino population in Southern California.

The second hearing, which was also held in Los Angeles, was the first official FCC hearing of the six to which FCC Chairman Martin had committed. Held on October 3, the event attracted a large number of union members, and there was high participation from both the African American and Latino communities of Southern California.

The third hearing took place in Oakland on October 27, in conjunction with the NAACP conference. All of the public hearings were standing room only. Across the state, Media Alliance and the coalition of organizations with whom they worked managed to bring diverse constituencies together around these hearings.

On October 19, 2006, California organizers released a Media and Democracy Coalition report "Bigger Media Harms California Communities" along with a two-page fact sheet on the impact of media consolidation.