CWA Leaders Blast FCC Vote on Media Cross-Ownership

The FCC vote this week reversing the three-decade ban on cross-ownership of a community's newspapers and broadcast stations is one more blow to media diversity in the United States, say CWA and its broadcast, newspaper and printing sectors.

"Our members know what happens when one company owns more than one TV station or a major TV station and the monopoly newspaper in the same market. The owner merges operations, slashes jobs, and reduces the quantity and quality of the news," said John Clark, president of NABET-CWA.

Linda Foley, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA, said protecting what's left of media diversity demands more, not fewer, safeguards as local TV and newspaper markets already are highly concentrated and most cities are one-newspaper towns. "The FCC's action means that fewer distinct, local media voices will be available as news sources for citizens," she said. "These changes fail to protect the public interest."

William Boarman, president of the CWA Printing Sector, expressed concern about how the rule change will affect the ability of communities to discuss and disseminate different points of view, as well as its impact on quality jobs.

The five-member Republican-controlled commission voted 3-2 along party lines to change the rule despite huge public opposition. CWA members joined thousands of Americans nationwide at hearings and tens of thousands wrote letters and contacted members of Congress. In the weeks before the vote, angry U.S. senators grilled FCC Chairman Kevin Martin about his lack of attention to public comment and many pledged to overturn the ruling.

TNG-CWA, NABET-CWA, and the Printing Sector spoke out after Tuesday's vote in conjunction with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has worked with CWA to fight the erosion of FCC ownership rules.

Sen. Byron Dorgon (D-N.D.), one of the Senate's most vocal opponents of the media rule changes told reporters afterwards that, ""We're not done with this. Not by a long shot."

Dorgan called the vote "needlessly rushed" and said he'll follow through on legislation to revoke it. "We've got a lot of people from both parties, as well as millions of American citizens, saying hold on a minute here, don't do this," he said. "Instead, the FCC is rushing to do the bidding of big corporations at the expense of the public interest."