Writers Guild wants Comcast cash for public programming

The Writers Guild of America East wants Comcast and NBC Universal to set aside at least $100 million for public affairs programming as a condition for approving their proposed merger.

Writers Guild president Michael Winship wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and the Department of Justice requesting that if the transaction is approved, the new entity be required to set aside at least $10 million per year for ten years "for the creation of thoughtful, independent, well-researched public affairs programs for television and the Internet." Winship argued the merger would limit the amount of independent content produced and distributed, particularly in the areas of news and public affairs programming. "Fewer and fewer entities creating news and public affairs programming for broadcast or cable television or for the Internet means less diversity of news content," Winship wrote. "By definition, fewer points of view are presented, fewer stories are reported in-depth and fewer resources are utilized to pursue them. True investigative reporting has almost vanished completely from commercial on-air news or has often been reduced to sensationalized, trivial coverage of no lasting significance."