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."
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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
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