May 19, 2010

For Immediate Release

Contact: Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance

(510) 684-6853

Public Interest Groups Demand Reversal of Media Consolidation: Hearing Friday May 21st at Stanford University

On the eve of a Federal Communications Commission field workshop on media ownership at Stanford University on May 21st, a coalition of public interest groups, including Media Alliance, Prometheus Radio Project, The Office of Communications of the United Church of Christ and Free Press, represented by the Media Access Project and the Institute for Public Representation, have filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals, stating a 2008 decision to significantly weaken media ownership rules was unreasonable and against the law.

The brief challenged the 2008 Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule (NBCO), under which any entity can own and operate both a newspaper and a broadcast station in a single media market. The coalition seeks a reversal of that decision.

The groups argue that NBCO is marred by procedural irregularities, ambigous provisions and loopholes, all of which counter the rule's stated purpose to increase diversity in the marketplace of ideas. The Federal Communications Commission also neglected to address whether NBCO would reduce rates of minority and female media ownership - despite the court's instruction to promote such ownership.

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Media Access Project Vice-President and Senior Policy Director said "Given the Commission's aims to increase diversity, the enactment of this rule is the antithesis of reasoned decision-making".

The public is invited to attend the Friday hearing at Dinkelspiel Auditorium at 471 Lagunita Drive on the Stanford campus. The panel discussion will begin at 10am and comments from the audience will be heard from 11:45 to 1:00pm and from 3:30 to 5:00pm. Invited panelists include the Mayor of Palo Alto, Patrick Burt, LA Times CEO Eddy Hartenstein, Pandora founder Tim Westergren, KRON Manager Brian Grief, NABET VP Jim Joyce, Reflections of a Newsosaur publisher Allan Mutter and Participatory Culture Foundation Co-Founder Tiffaniy Ying Cheng. Admission is free.

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