WASHINGTON, DC - April 22 - According to numerous press reports, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is close to completing a $580 million deal to purchase the Long Island daily Newsday from Tribune Company. S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, made the following statement:

"Completion of this backroom deal between Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell would give one company, News Corp., control of Newsday, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and two TV stations in the New York market. And that doesn't even take into account Murdoch’s ownership of the Fox network, Fox News Channel, and all of his other holdings in cable TV, movies, local TV stations and newspapers worldwide. That’s too much power in too few hands.

“The sale of Newsday to News Corp. is a clear violation of even the severely weakened FCC limits on how much media one company can own in one market. This sale should not be permitted under any circumstances. New York, like the rest of America, needs more media choices, viewpoints and competition -- not more consolidation.”

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