A federal appeals court has restored a longstanding ban that prevents media companies from owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same market. Tribune Co. owns both The Hartford Courant and WTIC Fox 61 TV.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission didn’t give the public adequate opportunity to comment on new rules that lifted the ban in the 20 largest media markets. The appeals court sent the rules back to the FCC to be rewritten.
“The court’s decision today is more about process than substance and the court remanded the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule back to the FCC for further consideration,” said Gary Weitman, senior vice president for corporate relations at the Tribune Co.”This same court wrote in 2003 that major market cross-ownership relief was supported by the evidence on the record. We continue to believe that this restriction makes little sense in today’s rapidly evolving media marketplace, and are confident that the commission, in its ongoing 2010 quadrennial review, and the courts will eventually agree.”
The so-called cross-ownership ban dates back to 1975 — a time when newspapers dominated the media industry. In 2007, then-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Bush administration appointee, moved to ease those restrictions in the biggest media markets. He argued that the ban no longer made sense in a media landscape that had been upended by the Internet and had left many daily newspapers struggling for survival.
Public interest groups challenged Martin’s move and warned that too much consolidation would lead to less diversity in news coverage.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman, head of the nonprofit law firm Media Access Project, which led the challenge, hailed Thursday’s ruling. “We’re extremely pleased that the court recognized that the public has a right to a diverse media environment,” he said.
