Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO of Media Access Project, issued the following statement concerning today’s FCC decision substantially relaxing rules limiting common ownership of newspapers and broadcast properties in the same city:

bq. “Today’s action is far more radical, and much more outrageous, than what Chairman Martin proposed just a few weeks ago. He has caved in to lobbying from the media giants, giving a pass to them so they can retain TV and radio stations that they were supposed to have divested months and years ago. And he is even giving Rupert Murdoch a new crack at keeping two huge TV stations in New York, despite his acquisition of the Wall Street Journal.”

Read the “press release”:http://www.mediaaccess.org/press/2007-12-18-BroadcastOwnershipRelease.pdf