Senators Raise Caution Flag On Media Ownership Review

Sens Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski this week advising him that he did not have to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors when it comes to vetting the FCC's media ownership rules and that they were still concerned about consolidation.

The letter came as the FCC was preparing to defend at least the authority and process by which Martin came to that decision in a brief to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which is currently hearing appeals of that 2007 decision by deregulation defenders and opponents alike. The FCC is concurrently reconsidering its ownership rules as part of a quadrennial review mandated by Congress. In the letter, they said they wanted to remind him of "the Senate's interest in public interest limits for media ownership and that the current commission is under no obligation to follow the footsteps of its predecessors." They also point out in the letter that the last two attempts to "weaken" the media ownership rules (in 2003 under Chairman Michael Powell and 2007 under Martin, were met with "considerable congressional opposition," including resolutions of disapproval passed by the Senate in both instances.