A PDF of this release can be found here:  http://tinyurl.com/kwulw

A staff analysis produced by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in 2004 that showed local ownership of television stations benefits the public was ordered destroyed by senior agency management, according to a story by Associated Press reporter John Dunbar. The report was written shortly after the FCC voted to relax media ownership rules in 2003, despite receiving over 3 million public comments in opposition to the plan.

Local groups that played a key role in the media ownership battle reacted by reminding the public they have another chance to show opposition to media consolidation. The FCC is accepting public comment until Friday, September 22nd on new changes to media ownership rules.

"First, the FCC ignored public support for local media. Then, the agency ignored its own research showing local media ownership is in the public interest. Now, the FCC has the opportunity to change course and reject the weakening of media ownership limits," said Beth McConnell, Director
of PennPIRG Education Fund. State PIRGs across the country, including PennPIRG Education Fund, helped thousands of citizens submit comments to the FCC in opposition to media consolidation in 2003.

"This study alerts us to the possibility that further ownership consolidation could lead to the substitution of non-local news for local content. A remote, corporate owned media can undermine our participation in a democracy," said Pete Tridish, founder of Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project. Prometheus Radio Project led the fight that ultimately overturned the FCC's weakened media ownership limits. When the Commission ignored the millions of comments Americans filed against the planned deregulatory package, Prometheus challenged the economic
arguments the Commission put forward in court, as the lead plaintiffs in Prometheus et al V. Federal Communications Commission. Ultimately, the Philadelphia-based Third District Court of Appeals ruled in Prometheus' favor in the summer of 2004, forcing the Commission to revisit the
agency's rules.

In its attempt to reconsider media ownership limits, FCC opened a new public comment period in June 2006. Concerned citizens have until Friday, September 22nd to again urge the FCC to reject weakening of media ownership limits. PennPIRG Education Fund has created an on-line comment form at www.pennpirg.org/mediaownership to make submitting comments to the FCC easy.

According to news reports, the FCC staff analysis showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of "on-location" news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. It was part of a broader decision relaxing ownership rules. PennPIRG Education Fund, Prometheus Radio Project, MediaTank and others are part of the Media and Democracy Coalition, which was launched this summer to promote policies that reduce media concentration, ensure open and non-discriminatory access across platforms, and provide access to the communications infrastructure that is so critical to modern life in communities of all income levels and in all parts of the country.