FCC Chief Offers New Plan on Cross-Ownership
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 14, 2007; Page D01
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed relaxing an agency rule to allow big-city newspapers to buy the smaller television stations in their markets, a move designed as a compromise in the ongoing issue of corporate control of the airwaves.
The proposal put forward by Chairman Kevin J. Martin appeared to please almost no one — the newspaper industry said it stopped short of helping the ailing print media and anti-consolidation groups said it went too far, with one calling it “yet another massive giveaway to big media.”
________________________________________________________________
The FCC chairman would have us believe newspapers cannot survive as print media declines in readership and ad revenues, without TV or radio–both of which are themselves in serious turn-down.
The story here may be more about what eventually happens to the Internet. I’ve a hunch that “Internet neutrality” is the next big battle in the world of media.
* For more in-depth articles by Jim on Current Affairs, check out Opinion-Columns.com