Free Press, Fox, News Media Alliance Scrap Over WWOR Waiver

The FCC has repeatedly ruled that Fox’s common ownership of WWOR Secaucus, New Jersey, and the New York Post is in the public interest, and “there is no evidence that that conclusion is any less true today,” said Fox in a reply filing in docket 20-378 posted Wednesday (see 2012020058). Free Press submitted 9,779 signatures urging the FCC to deny Fox’s request. “Murdoch’s media empire is a cancer on American democracy and this lame-duck administration must not be allowed to grant favors for their patrons,” wrote signatory Ken Stewart, of Purcellville, Virginia. “Free Press’s attempt to delay consideration of Fox’s waiver request should be rejected,” said Fox. The request doesn’t depend on the Prometheus IV challenge before the Supreme Court or the quadrennial review, so it doesn’t need to be delayed to account for them, Fox said. The FCC ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership is “an outmoded relic” that “has no place in today’s competitive media marketplace,” said the News Media Alliance.