Left In Lowell

What’s Ahead Open Thread

One Response to “What’s Ahead Open Thread”

1. No one you know Says:
   March 30th, 2006 at 11:42 pm

   This is bad, very very very bad!

   FCC chairman puts metro media ownership in cross hairs
   By Greg Gatlin/ The Messenger
   Thursday, March 23, 2006 - Updated: 08:03 AM EST

   Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin last week made it clear that he plans to move as quickly as possible to lift a ban on owning newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market.

   That can’t come soon enough for big media companies hungry to buy up newspapers and TV and radio stations, but stymied by the long-standing cross-ownership restriction.

   Whether lifting the ban would help the ailing newspaper industry is an interesting question.

   First, even the staunchest opponents of changing the rule now concede that the restriction will indeed get lifted, probably sooner rather than later. Unlike his predecessor, Michael Powell - who tried and failed to implement a sweeping relaxation of media ownership rules several years ago - FCC Chairman Martin aims to tackle one rule at a time, starting with the one that may face the least resistance - cross-ownership.

   With the seating of the FCC’s fifth commissioner, Robert McDowell, Martin would get a Republican majority.

   In 2003, an appeals court rejected Powell’s broad bid to ease limits, faulting the FCC’s rulemaking methodology. But the court did point out it had no issue with removing the cross-ownership prohibition specifically.

   Getting that done would seem to be a good idea, given what many are calling a newspaper industry crisis, with circulation and ad revenue declining. The Boston Globe, which recently went through a round of job cuts, appears primed for another. The Herald has endured its own cuts. Earlier this month, The Washington Post said it would cut 80 newsroom jobs. Newspapers around the country are in similar predicaments.

   You’d think making it easier for newspapers to buy TV and radio stations and vice versa would help.

   Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, argues it would hurt. Chester, author of a forthcoming book about the future of media called “Digital Destiny,” says that, as media titans are allowed to buy up ailing newspapers, the cost-cutting pressures on those papers will only intensify as owners seek to maximize profit margins.

   “Cost cutting will occur and we’ll see further dumbing down of print journalism to the bottom-feeding level of tabloid television, and it’s hard to think one could go lower than that,” Chester said. “Getting rid of cross-ownership is not the magic bullet. Indeed, it’s likely to make the patient worse.”

   That may be true in some cases. But I tend to side with newspaper and TV station owner MediaGeneral, which has argued that the cross-ownership ban “stifles innovation.” Using all kinds of media platforms to distribute content and generate advertising revenue only makes sense in the current climate, where competition for readers, viewers and listeners is fierce.

   Allowing newspapers to buy broadcast outlets, or be bought by them, may or may not produce better journalism, but it could give newspapers a fighting chance.

   NECN is one of the only local TV stations to give business coverage its due. So it’s worth noting that Shannon Ogden, a NECN anchor who hosts a couple of business shows, is leaving the cable news channel for a No. 1 anchor job in Jacksonville, Fla. - a move Ogden calls “a huge step up for me.”

   Ogden has co-hosted “New England Business Day” as well as “This Week in Business.” Spokeswoman Doreen Vigue says NECN will work diligently to find a replacement.

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