Scuttling of federal rules that prevent the cross-ownership of newspapers and radio and TV stations in top markets could result in fewer outlets owned by women and minorities, opponents say.
The Federal Communications Commission is looking at changing long-established regulations on media consolidation. Approval of such newspaper-radio and TV-radio cross-ownership is being considered, as are changes in the rules prohibiting the ownership of TV stations and newspapers in the same market, a rule adopted in 1975.
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Changes proposed are similar to those that the FCC adopted in 2008 that were overturned last year by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. But opponents say that the same concerns remain about media consolidation’s impact on women and minorities. “If further consolidation between newspapers, television stations and radio stations goes on, people of color are going to be frozen out from having a voice,” says Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
That group and several others, including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Asian American Justice Center, participated in a news conference Wednesday voicing concerns about the FCC’s plans. “When too few people own too much media, it is unhealthy,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “It lends itself to a control over our lives that must not be accepted.”
Earlier this month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated to the rest of the commission an order involving elimination of some rules to help foster competition. They have yet to vote on it, but action is expected by the end of the year.
Two commissioners have already voiced support for the elimination of such rules. “Given the financial conditions confronting the newspaper industry, we should be applauding companies that continue to operate daily newspapers rather than saddling them with artificial and outdated regulatory burdens,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai.
That statement came after the FCC’s action earlier this month approving the Tribune Co.’s ownership of the Chicago Tribune and WGN radio and TV stations in the city. The agency also granted one-year waivers for newspaper-TV combinations in Los Angeles, New York, Hartford, Conn., and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.
The one-year waivers should have been permanent, said Commissioner Robert McDowell in his own statement at the time, rather than requiring owners “to crawl back to the government for permission” to continue operation. “The outdated ban,” he said, “is more than likely an unconstitutional limitation on speech by restricting speakers’ access only to those platforms favored by the government.”
Opponents plan to appeal any FCC action on the reduction of cross-media ownership rules, says Craig Aaron, president of Free Press. “We are prepared to sue the FCC again,” he said, noting that the group was among those that opposed previous moves to ease cross-media ownership rules.
Last year, the Circuit Court told the FCC that it “cannot move forward with new rules without first studying the impact on women and people of color,” Aaron says. “The study must come first, not after the rules have already changed.”
