Four years ago this spring, in Richmond, Va., the FCC invited the public to comment on its plans to overhaul the rules governing media ownership.
The hearing lasted one day. There were no others. That September, the commission’s new set of rules drew more than 2 million critical e-mails and letters, and was struck down by a federal court, sending the commissioners back to the drawing board.
Last night, the the FCC was in Tampa. The commission held the fourth of six planned public hearings. Over the past several months, the commissioners have held hearings in Harrisburg, Pa., Nashville, Tenn., and Los Angeles, Calif.
The commission invited comment from a panel of experts — including Poynter president Karen Brown Dunlap — before opening the floor to the public.
The differences between the hearing in 2003 and this year’s are profound.
Perhaps the most fundamental change involves the blurring of boundaries. Blogs, Facebook and YouTube have given the audience the power to publish. News is becoming a dialogue.
Boundaries within the newsroom are also crumbling. Print reporters are being asked to take pictures and record audio. Newspaper companies are producing Emmy-award-winning video.
This is about convergence. Merriam-Webster says the word means “moving toward union or uniformity.” This coming together — some might call it consolidation — is exactly what the FCC is charged with monitoring.
And here we find a thread that connects yesterday’s hearing with the one four years ago. It’s a corporate connection: Media General.
The company, headquartered in Richmond, owns 25 daily newspapers and 23 network-affiliated broadcast television stations. It owns one of the largest newspapers — The Tampa Tribune — and one of the largest television stations — WFLA — in Florida. Both are in Tampa.
The company calls the city its “most advanced convergence market.”
This kind of arrangement — in which a local newspaper and a local television station are owned by the same company — is not permitted under the current rules. The union is grandfathered, protected because it was created before the ban on cross-ownership. But in the commission’s most recent attempt to change the rules — the one that was blocked in 2003 by a federal judge — the ban got the ax.
And just as it was four years ago, that rule, among others, is on the table. Every four years, the FCC must re-examine its rules to make sure they serve the “public interest.” That’s no easy task.
Opponents of media consolidation — including, but not limited to, Common Cause, Consumers Union and Free Press — argue that the success of a democracy hinges on the existence of a large number of diverse, local and independently owned media outlets.
Most large media companies, on the other hand, say consolidation can improve the democratic process. If a single company has a presence in print, broadcast and the Internet, it can more efficiently produce quality local news coverage. News organizations are using the Internet to present the news in text, with video and using other forms of multimedia.
Check back here later today for more coverage.
The FCC plans to decide on the new set of rules sometime next year.
Here are the rules under review.
- Local Television Ownership Limit
- Local Radio Ownership Limit
- Newspaper Broadcast Cross-Ownership Ban
- Radio Television Cross-ownership Limit
- Dual Network Ban
- UHF Discount on the National Television Ownership Limit
Here are 10 places worth checking out. A few of them lean pretty hard against media consolidation. Besides the folks who run major media companies, advocates for deregulation are tough to come by.
Full Disclosure: The Poynter Institute owns The St. Petersburg Times, which competes with The Tampa Tribune.
