Newspaper Cross-Ownership Rules are Out of Date, Says Pai in New York Times

“Few regulations are more disconnected from today’s realities than the F.C.C.’s media ownership rules,” said Chairman Ajit Pai in a New York Times commentary Thursday on proposed elimination of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. The rule is outdated and has harmed newspapers and broadcasters, while internet news outlets are unaffected, Pai said. "This rule thus singles out struggling news outlets for stringent regulation while leaving the biggest players untouched.” Though Pai conceded some believe eliminating the rule will allow too much consolidation of media voices, he said regulations barring broadcasters from owning more than two stations in a market still will preserve outlet diversity. “I understand that point of view and recognize that some limits are needed,” Pai said. In communities where grandfathered combinations of newspapers and broadcasters have been allowed, “we generally see news outlets that have been able to better serve the public,” Pai said. “The print newspaper business is dying, and for some papers, this rule has probably hastened their demise.”