LCongressional hearings were being held this week on a proposal to allow big media companies to broaden their ownership of TV and radio stations and newspapers companies across the country.

According to an Associated Press report, the FCC, the federal agency regulating the broadcast industry, " is considering allowing a single company to own TV stations that reach 45 percent of all US households instead of the current 35 percent; letting companies own more TV stations in larger markets; and eliminating many restrictions on companies owning newspapers and TV and radio stations in the same city."

The FCC is chaired by Michael Powell, the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell. The chairman is one of three Republicans who are members of the five member FCC board. The three are believed to favor relaxing the rules for the big media companies.

The issue of cross-ownership is an important one, and deserves to be debated across all segments of American society. In this ever-homogenized culture, there seem to be fewer voices being heard in the mass media.

Consider the media ownership in the Boston marketplace: The Boston Globe is no longer an independent company since its sale to the New York Times company. The Times also now owns the daily newspaper in Worcester.

Boston's other daily, the Herald, remains privately owned by a local man, and the company also owns community newspapers published in 100 cities and towns, including the Framingham-based daily newspaper covering "Metro-West."

For its part, the Herald has formed alliances with WEEI, the other sports radio station in town, as well as Fox Sports New England, a sports cable TV channel. Herald sports writers regularly appear on those two stations.

The New York Times also owns an interest in the Boston Red Sox, as well as a portion of the Red Sox cable TV station NESN. Globe sports reporters now appear daily on NESN and the newspaper has entered a strategic alliance with WWZN radio, where the same sports writers make regular appearances. Plus the Red Sox have entered their own strategic alliance with two Viacom television stations, WBZ-TV4 and WSBK-TV38, and the WSBK newscasts are produced by WBZ. Except for a different set and one or two minor features, the news programs on the two stations are identical.

At the end of the day, the growing consolidation of media in this town is well underway. It's a classic example of "more is less": more hours of news and sports for the audience, but fewer, far fewer voices being heard. The media giants now compete against each other not on substance but on sheer volume. The result is that far fewer voices can be heard; indeed far fewer points of view can be made known on important public issues.

The Greater Boston community needs more independent media choices, not less. Also, the country needs mass media where there is a free and full exchange of ideas and points of view.

Consolidation of news and sports outlets serves the interest only of investors and stock owners. The trend has grown for the past twenty years, and if it continues unabated, imagine how few choices there will be just a few short years from now.

-Ed Forry