Cross-Owned Stations Do Less News

CROSS-OWNED STATIONS DO LESS NEWS, ACTIVISTS CLAIM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a filing at the Federal Communications Commission, Free Press, Consumers Union, and the Consumer Federation of America use the FCC's own data to find that removing the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban would actually decrease news in local markets. Among a host of criticisms, the groups alleged that stations that have been cross-owned for "a long period of time" -- which are the ones the FCC initially grandfathered from the cross-ownership ban -- are guilty of biased reporting, saying that the FCC's own data suggest that such markets have fewer news voices, less news and what news they had slanted toward Republicans. And refuting broadcaster arguments that alternative media have already diversified the marketplace, the groups countered that the mass media retain a dominant position, citing one study that found that 89% of respondents said traditional media are their “first and second most important sources of local news."
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