The Senate Commerce Committee Thursday demonstrated just how deep the opposition is to continued concentration of media ownership by voting to throw out an FCC rule change, passed late last year in defiance of Congressional warnings and in the face of massive public objection.

The Committee vote, led by Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota (D), sends the proposal to the full Senate for a vote.  The measure has two dozen sponsors including Senators Clinton and Obama.  Dorgan predicts the bill will pass both the Senate and the House, but the Bush Administration is already threatening a veto.

Dorgan cited a proposed deal by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to buy New York’s Newsday as a symptom of the problem.  News Corp. already owns the NY Post, the Wall Street Journal and two local TV stations.  Dorgon said there are “…five or six major corporations in the country that determine…what Americans see, hear and read every day.”