Public Interest Groups Argue Against Loosening of Ownership Rules

Public interest groups Free Press, United Church of Christ and Media Access Project, testifying at a Federal Communications Commission workshop on media ownership rules, said that the broadcasting industry isn't in such bad shape and the FCC should not loosen its ownership rules as a way to "prop up" the industry. The groups favor structural regulations. FCC Media Bureau Chief William Lake said it would take five or 10 years to figure out whether the current tanking economy for newspapers and broadcasters was a cyclical event or a sea change. He asked how the FCC should take into account the economic downturn given that it did not have the luxury of waiting until those final returns were in. Derek Turner, research director at Free Press, said he didn't think the economic slump looked any different from past recessions. He said the FCC should be concerned about broadcasters' ability to make a profit, but that it was not the commission's job to prop up the industry, or to assume that relaxing the rules is going to be the answer to problems, many of which the industry created for itself. He also said that even if the FCC did loosen the rules, the tendency would be for the industry to engage in the same behavior that led to its current state.