Local news means ... more local news

LOCAL NEWS MEANS... MORE LOCAL NEWS
[SOURCE: Seattle Times, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Media ownership is too serious a question to be the subject of political games at the Federal Communications Commission. But under former Chairman Michael Powell, the FCC started a study of media concentration, saw results critical to industry trends and quietly shelved the study. Local owners care about local news. Many people could have told the FCC that, and some did, but under Powell the majority on the FCC didn't want to hear it. It was in the midst of a plan to lift restrictions on media mergers, allowing them to be ever more elephantine, and it didn't want any study to trip it up. The current FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, has been more cautious than Powell, and he needs to be more cautious still. There is no need to liberalize media ownership limits, and much reason to keep them just as they are.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2003277060_xowne...