WASHINGTON, DC - November 14 - Free Press, Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union today submitted further evidence to the Federal Communications Commission detailing the devastating local impact of gutting the longstanding ban on one company owning both the major daily newspaper and broadcast stations in the same market.

The new research strengthens the case against the proposal unveiled yesterday by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to remove the 32-year-old limit on “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.” Martin’s proposal would completely remove the ban in the top 20 markets, but also includes a loophole that could allow big companies to easily obtain waivers in hundreds more markets across the country.

“Our findings erase any doubt that Chairman Martin’s proposal flies in the face of the public interest,” said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press. “Americans have overwhelmingly spoken out against cross-ownership and in favor of a diversity of media owners and more local news. But what Martin is proposing would have the opposite effect — more consolidation and less local news.”

In their analysis, the consumer groups use the FCC’s own data to show how cross-ownership reduces the quantity of local news by stifling competition and independent viewpoints.

Among the new findings:

• Cross-ownership crowds out the competition. The presence of a cross-owned station leads the other stations in the market to collectively curtail their news output by about 25 percent.
  
• Cross-owned stations — and markets with cross-owned stations — don’t produce more local news.
  
• Cross-owned stations produce slanted news in line with the editorial position of the co-owned newspaper.

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