By Yvonne Gordon

A bill that would eliminate the federal ban on newspaper/television cross ownership has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, sponsored by Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio), chairman of the subcommittee on Telecommunications, Consumer Protection, and Trade, and Scott Klug (R-Wis.).

The bill, H.R. 598, would have the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) eliminate any provisions forbidding a newspaper from acquiring or renewing an AM, FM, or TV station broadcast license.

The bill is supported by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). The NAA applauded the legislation, alleging that the current FCC ban against cross ownership "unfairly puts the newspaper industry and the broadcast industry at a competitive disadvantage with other mass media outlets." John F. Sturm, NAA president and chief executive officer, said that repealing the current restriction against cross ownership "is a priority for NAA."

GCIU Vice Pres. Lawrence Martinez, General Board Legislative Committee chairman, denounced the bill and any attempt to change the existing ban against cross ownership as a further effort to control the public's right to a free and unbiased press.

GCIU Pres. James J. Norton said that a problem already exists as more and more media outlets fall into the hands of fewer and fewer owners. He observed that the problem has been getting increasingly worse over the years. Norton said: "They already control most of the flow of information given to the public. It is dangerous in a free society to have the news controlled by so few."

In 1998, at the first biennial review of the broadcast ownership rules as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, FCC Commissioner Susan Ness noted: "The commission has long held the view that the public interest is served by the twin goals of promoting competition and diversity of voices. I subscribe to that view."

Ness said: "Some people argue that consolidation does not have an adverse effect on diversity. I disagree." She added: "What's needed are independently owned outlets not a variety of content controlled by one owner."

In Australia, home of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the battle to eliminate cross ownership is being fought with the same arguments as in the United States. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, an advocacy group, made the argument that the owners' arguments for dumping the cross ownership rules are "bogus."

The alliance pointed out that investment in the sector is booming and shareholder value is surging. A press release from the group noted: "Investment in the media sector is at an all-time high, with $7 billion committed for broadband cable rollout, over $1 billion recently spent on press upgrades and full electronic pagination, major expansion of TV and film production facilities, as well a huge boom in on-line investments with a proliferation of service providers and web sites."

The alliance added: "At the same time, they have been arguing the cross rules are impeding their expansion, [the electronic media] have been investing huge sums in programming, most notably in sports rights."

Gene Kimmelman, co-director of the Washington, D.C.-based Consumers Union, contended that the FCC should keep the ban on cross ownership. He said: "At a time of mass consolidation in the media business, it is extemely dangerous to allow further aggregation of power in the hands of a few."

Ness asserted that the public "must not be lulled into a sense of complacency by having more channels, more formats, and the Internet." She questioned whether the public interest was served if the "overwhelming number of significant outlets are owned by a small handful of players."

She said: "At the heart of my deep and abiding concern about diversity of ownership of America's media is my view that such a diversity is an 'insurance policy for democracy.' The free market of ideas and information is essential to self-governance." She noted: "We need to insure that there are enough truly independent and antagonistic providers of information at each level of content development and distribution."