Press Release/ Media Access Project Commentary
July 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — Today, the Federal Communications Commission filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit addressing broadcast media ownership rules. In the brief, the Commission’s majority, with Commissioner Michael J. Copps dissenting, supported former-Chairman Kevin Martin’s 2007 decision to relax the Newspaper Broadcast Cross-Ownership (NBCO) rule in the nation’s top 20 media markets, while upholding other television and radio ownership rules in their present form.
Prior to its relaxation in the top 20 markets, the NBCO rule prohibited any entity from owning a newspaper and a broadcast media outlet within the same market. Under Kevin Martin, the FCC implemented a number of loophole-laden criteria to determine whether to waive the rule, effectively making newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership easier to attain.
On behalf of Prometheus Radio Project, Media Access Project (MAP) filed a brief in May 2010, challenging Kevin Martin’s effective repeal of the NBCO rule. MAP and Prometheus support the FCC’s decision to retain its other television and radio ownership rules and will file a brief in defense of those actions in the decision on August 11, 2010.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, MAP’s Senior Vice President and Policy Director, issued the following statement in response to today’s FCC brief:
“Media Access Project is, to put it mildly, disappointed that the FCC majority is defending Kevin Martin’s highly deregulatory decision with respect to the Newspaper Broadcast Cross-Ownership rule.”
“This unfortunate aspect of the Commission’s brief will undermine the FCC’s ability to defend those portions of its 2007 decision which rightly opted to maintain other television and radio ownership rules in their existing form. The consequences of the FCC’s position in this brief could have seriously adverse effects on the diversity of ownership and programming in media.”