Senate Puts Brakes on FCC's Media Consolidation Agenda

CWA and its media sectors are cheering the U.S. Senate for dealing a bipartisan blow to Big Media last week, voting unanimously to reverse a 2007 FCC decision that lets one owner control both a newspaper and TV stations in the same market.

CWA leaders and other opponents of what's known as cross-ownership said they will push the House to follow the Senate in blocking the tidal wave of media consolidation.

Throughout the Bush administration, the media giants have continuously pressed for FCC rules to let them dominate media markets at the expense of the public's right to access to diverse news, opinion and entertainment options. Consolidation has also cost tens of thousands of jobs.

Jonathan Adelstein, one of the two Democrats on the five-member FCC, called the Senate's bipartisan vote "a great victory of the people over the powerful."