(Originally published in Greater Democracy)

In today’s New York Times, Robert Pear writes: “that four television networks had turned down its request to run an advertisement opposing President Bush's effort to clamp down on medical malpractice lawsuits.” He noted that the “networks said the advertisement violated their standards for advertising on controversial issues.”

By doing so, the fourth estate is failing its duties to promote public discourse about the issues that are most important to all Americans.

Michael Powell had suggested that we didn’t have to be concerned about media consolidation because of the emergence of new media. To a certain extent he is right. We can all go and view the banned advertisement online at http://www.usaction.org. I hope everyone does. I hope everyone encourages all of their friends to do this and I hope everyone engages in discussions about how best address the medical liability issues our country faces.

However, the reality is that at this point in the development of media many more people would have seen the advertisement if the networks were being proper stewards of the public airwaves that have been entrusted to them.