TALLAHASSEE - Media watchdogs decried consolidation of the industry on Thursday and said Floridians will suffer if regulators allow cross-ownership of newspapers and TV stations.

"Media conglomeration means less community-oriented news, less political coverage and less civic discussion," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause Florida. "It gives the media the power to choose to report or not to report on issues that are important to our community."

Wilcox's group is among those lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to maintain rules that prohibit ownership of both a newspaper and TV station in the same market. The FCC is reviewing its rules and is proposing eliminating or relaxing the cross-ownership ban, along with other rules limiting the number of TV and radio stations companies may own.

At a news conference in the state capital, Common Cause and the Florida Public Interest Research Group presented an economist's report that envisioned newspaper-TV mergers in Miami, Tallahassee and Panama City. The report said such scenarios would violate or come close to violating merger guidelines relied on by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, creating media monopolies.

"There has been consistent consolidation, a narrowing of viewpoint diversity as greater consolidation has happened across the mediascape," said Andy Opel, a communications professor specializing in media policy issues at Florida State University.

The newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership prohibition was enacted in 1975. Media General's co-ownership of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA, Channel 8, preceded the rule and is grandfathered, as are several other media relationships nationwide.

Media General's president and chief executive said Thursday that the activists were off base. "We're very committed that the concept of cross-ownership strengthens community news," Marshall Morton said. "The thought that we as a large company could control the public marketplace for news in these days of the Internet and multiple TV stations ... really is incredible."

Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or jstockfisch@tampatrib