FC: Weekly column: A defense of the FCC's vote on media ownership

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-5072792.html

   Technology and the limits of media ownershipBy
   Declan McCullagh
   September 9, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

   Just what was so objectionable about the Federal Communications
   Commission's decision to slightly relax a few limits on media
   ownership?

   To hear critics assail the change, which is now on hold after last
   week's court ruling, you might think a constitutional Armageddon was
   at hand. Columnists warned that the decision "wounded democracy,"
   while The New York Times lauded the old rules as representing "the
   heart of our democracy." A report the AFL-CIO prepared before the vote
   even bears the grave title of "Democracy Unhinged."

   Huh? You'd never know it from all that anguished bleating about
   imperiled democracy, but the changes to the FCC's media ownership
   rules were entirely modest. If anything, they didn't go far enough.

   Some background: The FCC voted 3-2 on June 2 to relax rules that limit
   ownership of TV stations, radio stations and newspapers, saying
   decades-old regulations are obsolete, in part, because of the rise of
   the Internet and other new technologies. The new rules said broadcast
   networks could own TV stations, which combined reach 45 percent of the
   national audience, an increase of 10 percentage points.

   Note that does not mean a media company may own 45 percent of all
   stations. It simply means that a company's broadcasting reach may
   modestly expand, though it would still be far short of the national
   reach of, say, newspapers, cable networks or Web sites.

   What's more, mergers would still remain subject to antitrust review,
   and the new rule would only apply to about half a percent of stations
   nationwide. (If American democracy can survive the Civil War, Richard
   Nixon, Bill Clinton and the California recall, perhaps it could
   withstand a change of half a percent.)

   ...




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