By Peter Kaplan, Reuters
The Federal Communications Commission narrowly approved on Tuesday a loosening of media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities, despite objections from consumer groups and a threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.
The FCC voted 3-2, along party lines, to ease the 32-year-old ban on ownership of a newspaper and broadcast outlet in a single market.
In addition, the FCC action exempted 36 newspaper-broadcast ownership combinations that had been grandfathered under the previous rule. It also gave exemptions to six combinations that were pending before the agency.
  The FCC’s Republican chairman, Kevin Martin, called the move a “relatively minimal loosening of the ban” and said it “may help to forestall the erosion in local news coverage.”
The vote came over the objections of the FCC’s two Democratic commissioners and in the face of opposition from lawmakers in Congress.
The FCC action provoked an immediate rebuke from the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan.
(Original Article)
Sure, you can have a corporate monopoly of the media, as long as I get paid !! After all, I got my job by screwing a bush. – Kevin Martin