NNPA Seeks End of Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rules, Citing Facebook

The FCC should eliminate its newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule, said the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents black-owned media companies, in a letter in docket 14-50. Media is no longer dominated by TV networks and large metropolitan newspapers, it's dominated by even larger internet entities that aren't under FCC jurisdiction, NNPA said. Powerful online news aggregators such as Facebook are “a real threat" to local journalism, and those smaller, local entities shouldn’t be hampered by FCC regulations, NNPA said. “Today’s challenge is to ensure that these trusted community voices remain strong and economically viable against their unregulated rivals.” Cross-ownership rules restrict investment in media outlets and prevent them from innovating or upgrading their businesses, NNPA said.