Kevin J. Martin was named by President Bush as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Martin, who has been on the commission since 2001, succeeds Michael K. Powell. Powell stepped down from the agency in March after serving as chairman for four years.

Martin said he looks "forward to working with the administration, Congress, my colleagues and the FCC's talented staff to ensure that American consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of the best communications system in the world."

The FCC's five commissioners include three Republican appointees and two Democratic commissioners. With Martin's move to the chairmanship, there is a Republican vacancy on the commission.

Martin inherits pending issues related to deregulatory efforts advanced under Powell. In June 2003, the FCC's Republican majority approved new media rules that would have lifted the ban on newspaper and television station cross ownership in the same city, allowed individual companies to own more television stations in the same city, and lowered the number of radio stations that can be owned by one company on local and national levels.

The rules were stayed last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia and the Justice Department did not appeal the stay. However, industry analysts expect the commission to take another stab at changing some of the rules–changes that are favored by big media companies and opposed by labor, smaller companies, and citizen advocacy groups.

Industry analysts also expect Martin to take on First Amendment rights as a proponent of stiffer fines on broadcasters for content judged to be "indecent."

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) have introduced a bill to restore the longstanding "fairness doctrine" that was abolished by the Reagan administration in 1987.

H.R. 501 would "require broadcasting stations to take into account diverse interests and viewpoints of the local community" and report to the FCC on compliance with that rule.

Reagan's FCC claimed the fairness doctrine limited debate on issues because it encouraged media owners to avoid controversial issues altogether rather than fulfill their obligations to present viewpoints on all sides of an issue.

Since that time, however, ownership of broadcast outlets has become dominated by conservative and right-wing corporations and groups, such as Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp., which are under no obligation to present multiple sides of issues even when reporting news events.