The Dayton Daily News is about to shrink. The FCC shouldn't have allowed it

In November 2019, the Federal Communications Commission approved the acquisition of Cox Media, the owner of the Dayton Daily News, by Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm. Apollo’s first move? Cut the 121-year-old Dayton Daily News and two other newspapers to three days a week. Federal rules prohibit a company from owning a daily newspaper and a TV station in the same market. In addition to the Dayton Daily, Cox Media also owned the region’s largest TV station and several radio stations. Cox Media had been grandfathered in, but the FCC allowed Apollo to skirt the rules: With circulation reduced to three days a week, the Dayton Daily is technically no longer a daily newspaper, so the sale could move forward. 

As the mayor of Dayton and a former FCC commissioner, we are coming together to share our concern about this unprecedented action. The FCC’s deal with Apollo allows the private equity firm to own a significant amount of media. History has shown that the quality of news and information has greatly diminished under private equity control. These firms implement cost-cutting strategies that bleed newspapers and media outlets dry, leading to reporter layoffs and consolidated newsrooms. A region of nearly 1 million people will bear the brunt of these devastating cuts to its primary news source. Local newspapers provide a public good that far outweighs their financial value. And the FCC is supposed to ensure that public good is maintained. The approval of this merger with its explicit endorsement of profit over the public interest demonstrates that the FCC has lost its way.