The FCC should relax or eliminate rules barring...

The FCC should relax or eliminate rules barring cross ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market, said Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson in a letter to the FCC (http://bit.ly/1s444ih) posted Friday in docket 14-50. The rule is out of date, and Internet news outlets “have undermined the economic viability of many newspapers,” said Isaacson. “It would seem that we should be encouraging, not forbidding, owners of broadcast outlets to buy or invest in newspapers.” Journalism benefits “from being able to combine print, video, and audio,” he said. “We need to do all we can to encourage investment in newspapers and improve the business models for local journalism.” Isaacson used to run Time Warner’s CNN and more recently wrote a biography of Apple founder Steve Jobs.