Senators Ask FCC to Hold Off on Ownership Vote

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski dated Nov. 30, nine senators -- including Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Al Franken (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) -- asked the chairman not to proceed with any media ownership rule changes without providing "clear, evidence-based response" to concerns about the impact of those changes on diversity of ownership.

They say the response that is necessary to comply with a federal court and would be responsive to "significant public objection." A number of minority groups, media activists and unions have asked the FCC to hold off on a vote until the diversity impact is better gauged. The senators said the current media ownership rules have been a "bulwark" against mass consolidation. Pointing to FCC figures showing minority media ownership at what they called "abysmally low levels," they said the impact of the changes on those levels had not been sufficiently analyzed per a Third Circuit Court order.