[ OUR OPINION ]
FCC should not allow
greater media concentrationEACH softening of restrictions on media ownership in recent years has been followed by a burst of corporate consolidation. Mergers have sharply reduced the number of media companies and threaten to erode the vibrant diversity and competition that is so important to Honolulu and other cities. Deregulation invigorates some industries but should not result in too few companies controlling news -- locally or nationally. Information in a democracy is not just another product.
THE ISSUE The Federal Communications Commission is considering measures that would allow greater concentration of media ownership.
While the number of television stations has grown over the past quarter century, the number of station owners has declined from 540 to 360. Mergers occurred in nearly three-fourths of all markets in the two years following the Federal Communications Commission's 1999 decision to allow a single company to own two television stations in the same market.
Alabama-based Raycom Media Inc. became the first company to take advantage of the so-called "duopoly" decision, acquiring Honolulu's KHNL-TV and KFVE-TV. A more serious threat to competition came when Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp., which bought KHON in 1998, obtained a waiver that allowed it to buy KGMB. The waiver was needed because both stations are top-rated network affiliates in the Honolulu market.
On a broader scope, the FCC is reviewing a rule that forbids a single company from owning TV stations that reach more than 35 percent of American households. Viacom Inc., which owns CBS, and News Corp., which owns Fox, both have exceeded that limit.
In addition, the commission seems on the verge of ending a prohibition of one company owning a TV station and newspaper in the same market. Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns 12 daily newspapers and 24 TV stations, came into conflict with the rule in several markets, including Los Angeles and New York, when it acquired Los Angeles Times-Mirror Co. The FCC could -- and should -- force the company to sell some of its operations when licenses come up for renewal. Industry observers predict that lifting the ban on newspaper and broadcast cross-ownership would lead quickly to 200 such mergers.
The FCC has scheduled a one-day hearing Thursday in Richmond, Va., on broadcast ownership regulation. The Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has protested the duopoly waiver, and the Honolulu Community-Media Council has asked that the FCC conduct a hearing in Honolulu on the media ownership issues.
Hawaii recognizes the importance of media competition, as demonstrated by the public outcry at the unsuccessful effort to close the Star-Bulletin. This newspaper's demise would have given a local daily newspaper monopoly to Gannett Corp.'s Honolulu Advertiser.
In 1945, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote that "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public." That principle needs to be upheld at both the local and national levels.
Federal Communications Commission
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
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