XM, Sirius and the grass roots

For those of us in Journalismland, the proposed merger between XM and Sirius has become a press-release-of-the-day phenomenon. Either the National Assn. of Broadcasters announces a study or testimony condemning the proposal, or the satellite companies trot out a competing study or filing by an advocacy group -- often a little-known one -- saying the merger would be a wonderful thing for all of humanity. I did a column today for latimes.com looking at the common inside-the-Beltway practice of rounding up interest groups to advance (or oppose) a controversial proposal, and you can read it here.