Ownership of the media.

Freedom of speech and the Internet.

The future of public broadcasting.

Private and public media in a democratic society.

These are some of the topics to be discussed by Commissioner Michael Copps of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other media experts at a panel discussion titled “The FCC and the Media,” to be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

Free and open to the public, the program is sponsored by Roosevelt University’s Center for New Deal Studies and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, N.Y.

The other panelists will be Newton Minow, former chair of the FCC; John Roberts, professor of law at DePaul University; and Carol Marin, reporter for NBC Channel 5 and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Karen Gibbs, former co-host of Wall Street Week with Fortune, will be the moderator.

During the 1½ hour program, the panel will consider role of public interest groups in regulating the media; the impact of concentrated ownership on radio, print and broadcast journalism; local media autonomy; and the regulatory future of new technologies.  A question and answer period will enable the audience to participate in the discussion.

“The FCC and the Media” is the 2005 Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Lecture, a Four Freedoms Roundtable and a Fireside Chat.

Copps has been one of the four FCC commissioners since 2001.  Previously he was deputy assistant secretary of commerce for basic industries and chief of staff for former South Carolina Senator Ernest Hollings.

Roberts was dean of DePaul University College of Law from 1986 to 1996, after serving as dean of Wayne State University Law School for six years. He was a communications lawyer with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. and general counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee during the Carter Administration. His current research interests center on telecommunications and statutory interpretation issues.

Marin was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and anchor and reporter for WMAQ and WBBM television stations before joining Channel 5 and the Sun-Times.  She also has been a correspondent for CBS News, including "60 Minutes," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," and "48 Hours."

Gibbs graduated from Roosevelt University’s Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration in 1976 with an undergraduate degree in business.  After earning her M.BA. from the University of Chicago, she became the first woman to work on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.  She then worked at Dean Witter Reynolds for 10 years as a vice president and senior futures strategist. In 2002, she was selected as co-host of the PBS show Wall Street Week with Fortune where she interviewed the nation’s leading financiers, including Donald Trump and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin.

For further information, call Roosevelt University at 312-341-3510.

Minow was one of the most controversial figures ever to chair the FCC. Appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, he served only two years, but during that time he stimulated more public debate over television programming than any other chair in the history of the commission.  Minow's remark that television was a “vast wasteland” sparked a national debate over the future of television.