To Fight Fake News, Let Broadcasters Invest in Newspapers, NMA Tells FCC

The potential investments in newspapers blocked by the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban are more important now that newspapers face the challenge of “fake news,” said the News Media Alliance in a letter to the FCC posted in docket 14-50 Tuesday. “Social media platforms have the global scale to attract the advertising dollars on which newspapers used to rely,” said NMA. “Without any prohibition on investment, newspapers would finally have a fair chance to achieve the scale necessary to compete in the digital space.” Without the ban, broadcasters could invest in newspapers and combine with them on digital ventures that would be attractive to advertisers, NMA said. The FCC should grant NAB’s petition for reconsideration of the 2014 quadrennial review of ownership rules, NMA said. “Real, reputable, and trusted news content is the true remedy to fake news.”