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No News Is Good News?
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Business New Haven
3/17/2003
By: BNH
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Another important issue that has received much less coverage in the Courant and elsewhere is the so-called cross-ownership ban presently being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission.
The rule has effectively prevented the formation of local media monopolies by barring the company that owns the daily newspaper in a city from likewise owning the same city's largest television or radio station. The purpose of the law is to ensure that citizens have access to diverse sources of news and information.
This is a particularly true in Connecticut, where the Chicago-based Tribune Co. owns the state's largest newspaper (yes, the Courant), the three Connecticut weeklies of the Advocate newspaper chain (which also has papers in Massachusetts and New York), WTIC-TV (Channel 61) and WCTX-TV (Channel 20). It also owns Valumail, a company that distributes pre-printed ads.
Last year, the FCC ordered that Tribune had to divest some of its holdings in markets such as Hartford. The company has effectively disregarded that decree, and if the FCC decides to scrap the cross-ownership ban (which could happen as early as May), the issue will become moot.
It may well be unrealistic to expect conglomerate-owned major media to raise a stink over weakening a rule that runs counter to their interests, anyway.
But how about ostensible friends of consumers such as U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman or Attorney General Richard Blumenthal? Can we count on them to stand up for the little guy - in this case, not only independent media, but also individual news consumers? Or will these media-savvy politicians go along to get along with the major media outlets that have been so instrumental to building their public careers?
It's a question worth asking.
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