FCC Weakens Media Ownership Rules Designed To Support Local News Outlets
Source: Talking Points Memo
By TALI ARBEL Published NOVEMBER 16, 2017 3:01 PM
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators have weakened rules meant to support independent local media.
Now, one company can own newspapers and broadcast stations in one market, undoing a ban in place since 1975. Thursday’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission also makes it easier for one company to own two broadcast TV stations in one market and coordinate operations with stations owned by others.
Although the changes won’t affect AT&T’s pending bid for Time Warner and its cable channels, they come as cable and phone companies have grown into industry giants through acquisitions. The newspaper and broadcasting industries say they need the changes to deal with growing competition from the web and cable companies.
The Republican-dominated FCC approved the changes in a 3-2 vote along party lines. The two Democratic commissioners and other critics say that dumping these rules, by encouraging consolidation, hurts media diversity. Free Press, a group that opposes media mergers, said Thursday that it will challenge the rule changes in court.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fcc-weakens-media-ownership-rules
“This act will pave the way for massive broadcast conglomerates to increasingly provide local viewers with nationalized cookie-cutter news and corporate propaganda that’s produced elsewhere,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat."
You think it's time to bring some form of the "Fairness Doctrine"? I think so.....................
= new reply since forum marked as read
What a great idea! Seriously, who knows? Network evening news is now nothing more than a delivery vehicle for advertising, with pathetic scraps of news as filler between commercials and chosen to draw as many and offend as few viewers as possible. I'm sure political analysts are trying to measure support for a new Fairness Doctrine. Wish they'd ask me.
Out of nowhere, and certainly a propos of nothing, I got this picture of Dianne Feinstein leading a rally of Democrats shouting "Lock him up" about CNN's monster-creator Jeff Zucker. Surprise the heck out of everyone, for sure. 
In any case, "these corporations" are a threat to genuine journalism also. Someone would write about that.
"The Broadcast TV Corporation", "The Newspaper Publication Corporation", "The Broadcast Radio Corporation".
When people warned - "elections matter" - this is what they were talking about. 
But hey, staged photos!
Time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, indeed!!!
K&R for exposure
Instead of Bannon and Trump's misdirections!
Sinclair is trying to turn most local TV stations into Trump TV.
