Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Unions Applaud Court Ruling on Media Ownership
The decision by the federal appeals court blocking the Federal Communications Commission's rules on media consolidation is an important victory for the public and for diversity of opinion, eleven media unions, including CWA, said in a joint statement.
The court's decision reinforced the unions' long-held public position that the FCC reached its rules last June in a rush to judgment driven by ideology and the industry's agenda, and without the serious debate and discussion necessary to protect the public interest, the unions and the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees stated.
"Media ownership deregulation would radically reshape local media markets throughout the nation as well as restrict the availability and diversity of news, information and entertainment that America's working families consume. Yet the agency steadfastly refused to talk to America through a process of field hearings to gauge public sentiment," said DPE President Paul Almeida.
Linda Foley, Newspaper Guild-CWA president, agreed, noting that "the Court's ruling recognized that the FCC did not give enough consideration to the views of the American public or media workers before it tried to implement big media's deregulatory agenda."
The court decision means that the FCC's rules issued in June 2003 cannot go into effect, because they were decided in an "arbitrary and capricious" way, the court found. The FCC sought to allow a single media company to own both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same market, as well as enable companies to buy additional stations and media outlets. This would concentrate media ownership in the hands of just a few major corporations.
"It is about time that someone restored sanity to the process of changing media ownership rules, rules that were designed to protect democracy. This is a victory for our members and for the American people," said John Clark, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA.
The unions supported the call by FCC commissioners Copps and Adelstein for full public participation in any new review process, particularly Copps' call that public hearings begin within 30 days. The unions also said they will continue to back efforts by members of Congress to stop the concentration of media ownership.
The court's decision reinforced the unions' long-held public position that the FCC reached its rules last June in a rush to judgment driven by ideology and the industry's agenda, and without the serious debate and discussion necessary to protect the public interest, the unions and the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees stated.
"Media ownership deregulation would radically reshape local media markets throughout the nation as well as restrict the availability and diversity of news, information and entertainment that America's working families consume. Yet the agency steadfastly refused to talk to America through a process of field hearings to gauge public sentiment," said DPE President Paul Almeida.
Linda Foley, Newspaper Guild-CWA president, agreed, noting that "the Court's ruling recognized that the FCC did not give enough consideration to the views of the American public or media workers before it tried to implement big media's deregulatory agenda."
The court decision means that the FCC's rules issued in June 2003 cannot go into effect, because they were decided in an "arbitrary and capricious" way, the court found. The FCC sought to allow a single media company to own both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same market, as well as enable companies to buy additional stations and media outlets. This would concentrate media ownership in the hands of just a few major corporations.
"It is about time that someone restored sanity to the process of changing media ownership rules, rules that were designed to protect democracy. This is a victory for our members and for the American people," said John Clark, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA.
The unions supported the call by FCC commissioners Copps and Adelstein for full public participation in any new review process, particularly Copps' call that public hearings begin within 30 days. The unions also said they will continue to back efforts by members of Congress to stop the concentration of media ownership.