Five groups will discuss their opposition to media ownership deregulation...

Five groups will discuss their opposition to media ownership deregulation in a 1 p.m. Wednesday conference call, asking the FCC to “stop its rush to lift longstanding” limits, one of those organizations said in a news release. Free Press said officials of the group and the Asian American Justice Center, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America (CWA) will speak. Groups such as those have been asking the commission to seek public comment on broadcast ownership figures released Nov. 14 by the Media Bureau (http://xrl.us/bnzz9y), which show minorities and women own a low share compared to their portion of the U.S. population of radio and TV stations (CD Nov 21 p15). They want such comment solicited before a vote on media ownership rules, subject of a draft order that would allow waivers of a ban on cross-ownership among daily newspapers and TV stations in top-20 markets (CD Nov 23 p5). The bureau data show minorities own 19 TV stations in the 20 largest markets, and none are among the top-four rated that the draft rules would prevent from being cross-owned, nine nonprofits opposed to such waivers reported telling FCC General Counsel Sean Lev and officials from the bureau and office of Chairman Julius Genachowski. “Those stations would be vulnerable to acquisition by newspaper companies not controlled by minorities, just as in the past” when deregulation “resulted inexorably in sales of minority owned stations,” said groups including Free Press, NHMC, Prometheus Radio Project, Media Alliance and United Church of Christ in a filing posted Tuesday to docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bn3r64). The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters said the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals remand last year of the last media ownership order requires the agency to adopt a definition of eligible entities with “a reasonable possibility of improving ownership opportunities for minorities and women before the Commission may relax any of the existing ownership rules.” NABOB Executive Director Jim Winston reported meetings with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (http://xrl.us/bn3r7k). The eligible entity definition in the current draft order targets small businesses (CD Nov 15 p1). Several professors at Howard University are “stunned” the commission will vote on ownership deregulation before there is “adequate review and comment” on the bureau data, they wrote the FCC members. “There was a stated expectation by the Court that future deliberations should involve the use of credible ownership data,” said the letter (http://xrl.us/bn3r7v). Signers included Prof. Carolyn Byerly, who has written the agency before on the Form 323 biennial ownership documents on which the bureau’s data was based.