Media Phenomenon: The Relaxation of Media Ownership Rules

Deregulating Media Ownership rules - the debate Synopsis

A deregulatory media ownership regime , provoked important changes in the American media environment in 1996 . Several arguments have been advanced to support the FCC decision to further deregulate the media . These were principally that ownership deregulation would result in benefits for all sectors : for the traditional media , an emerging new media and the public . The traditional media would be released from restrictions , which had prevented it from competing with new media from accessing new customers and opportunities . The new media would be free to develop

br expand the boundaries of what has been labelled as newly-emerging citizen journalism and interactions with the old media . At the same time , the public interest would be served as increasing numbers of media sources and outlets enhanced diversity in the delivery of information and entertainment . But there is debate about whether they have delivered promised benefits . It is possible to argue that the American experience suggests that the public interest may not be well served by media ownership deregulation Introduction

The concentration of ownership was common before the start of the past century , especially with regard to newss . More recently wehave witnessed the development of cross-media ownership as a result of diversification and internationalization . This has given rise to cnsiderable anxiety about the possible development of monopolies in ownership and recently the legislations around the world particularly in the Europe and particularly America by the FCC regarding deregulation has created panic . During the earlier decades of this century concentration of ownership did not generate much public concern . However some concern was expressed by politicians , trade unionists and church leaders that there should be a better spread of media ownership in to avoid single viewpoints being pressed on to the public (Denscombe 1996

In response to a congressional mandate to review its media ownership rules every two years , the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission ) on June 2 , 2003 voted 3-2 to set new limits on media concentration . Of the six media ownership rules reviewed by the Commission , one was strengthened (the Local Radio Ownership Limit , one was left unchanged (the Dual Network Ownership Prohibition , and four were relaxed slightly (the National TV Ownership Limit , the local TV Ownership Limit , Cross-Media Ownership Limit , and the regulation on Radio and TV license transferability .The law requiring the FCC action is the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Telecom Act , which directed the FCC to eliminate the cap on the number of television stations any one business may own and to increase to 35 from 25 the maximum percentage of American households a single broadcaster may reach . The Act also requires the Commission to review its broadcast ownership rules every two years , and repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest as a result of competition

The FCC has been subjected to a number of court challenges in its implementation of the law , and the recent trend has been to strike down specific limits on...