Rep. Maxine Waters Files Petition with FCC

Rep. Maxine Waters Files Petition with FCC Challenging Tribune Company’s Cross-Ownership Request

From Office of Rep. Maxine Waters

U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (CA-35) filed a petition yesterday afternoon asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the Tribune Company’s request for a waiver of the cross-ownership rule and its request to renew the broadcast license for KTLA-TV (Channel 5). The cross-ownership rule was put in place, in part, to prevent the domination of local media markets by major corporations. In the Los Angeles Designated Media Area (DMA), which is second only to New York City, the Tribune Company owns both KTLA-TV and the Los Angeles Times. By its own calculations, the Tribune Company has the ability to influence the news and information received by 52 percent of the 12.8 million people that officially comprise the Los Angeles DMA.

“The Tribune Company is clearly in violation of rules that were established to increase diversity and to prevent the creation of an over-concentrated media market,” said Rep. Waters. “The FCC has an obligation to deny Tribune’s request for a waiver because it would allow the company to continue to operate in violation of the law – and establish a very bad precedent.”

In 2000, the Tribune Company acquired control of the The Los Angeles Times when it merged with Newsday, Inc. At the time, it already owned KTLA-TV, and the company has been allowed to maintain ownership of both media outlets for six years. However, KTLA-TV’s broadcast license will expire on December 1, 2006. If the FCC were to deny the Tribune Company’s request for renewal, it would be forced sell the station.

In her petition, Rep. Waters points to the fact that The Los Angeles Times’ daily circulation is larger than the next five largest local newspapers combined and that its Sunday circulation eclipses the next 10 largest local papers combined. According to its own website, “The Los Angeles Times is the only newspaper in the West with the resources and commitment to cover important stories wherever they happen. Its network of 23 foreign, 10 national, four state and eight regional bureaus is one of the most formidable news-gathering operations in the world — and the largest in California.”

Rep. Waters added, “If there was any question about the extent to which the L.A. Times dominates the local media market, its own marketing materials make it crystal clear. When combined with the influential presence of KTLA-TV, the Tribune Company has the ability to negatively impact the local community by drowning out alternative perspectives—perspectives that usually belong to the poor, minorities, and women.”

The Tribune Company’s inescapable and dominating presence in the Los Angeles DMA violates FCC rules and goes against federal antitrust principles as well as the spirit of Supreme Court decisions which state that it is in the public’s interest for broadcasting to encompass “the presentation of vigorous debate of controversial ideas of importance and concern …” On many occasions, the Supreme Court has come down on the side of the public’s right-to-know and has held that the right “rests on the assumption that the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public.”