Hallelujah. This is something I have been hoping someone would do for a long time: CLEVELAND -- The United Church of Christ today (Dec. 9) is filing two petitions with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that two network owned-and-operated television stations in Miami be denied license renewals for failing to provide viewers "suitable access" to a full array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences."

(More at the UCC's filing site: www.accessibleairwaves.org)

WFOR-TV (a CBS station) and WJVT-TV (an NBC station) -- whose operating licenses are currently up for FCC review -- are being challenged because "there is substantial and material question" as to whether the stations' parent companies, Viacom, Inc., and the General Electric Company, have operated the stations in the public interest, the petitions state.

The action stems from a much-publicized decision by both networks to deny an advertisement that makes clear the church's welcome of diverse, even marginalized, segments of the population. CBS and NBC have said the all-inclusive ads are "controversial" and, therefore, amount to "issue advocacy," something the networks have said they do not allow.

The public owns the airwaves, but for too long they have had no say over how they are used. No matter how fluff-filled "news" becomes, no matter how rigorously they exclude certain views and positions from the realm of "acceptable" discourse, no matter how much they become the unregulated playground of media conglomerates, the FCC has done nothing to stand up for the public, and in fact has facilitated the denial of the public interest. Well, it is time for things to change. Anyone can raise an objection to the renewal of a television license, and you can do so here as a part of this case. At the very least, we need to force the FCC to rule on this issue. These airwaves belong to us, and it is time to take them back.