Local ownership of our newspapers, television and radio stations benefits local communities. Studies show that local owners devote more resources to newsgathering and to coverage of local issues that matter to communities.

Big Media’s failure to serve local communities is a serious public concern. These media giants – multibillion-dollar corporations like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., Time Warner, Disney, Viacom and NBC/GE – receive generous handouts from the U.S. government. They get free use of valuable public airwaves in exchange for a promise to serve communities with local news. But Big Media have consistently failed to deliver on that promise. Instead, these corporate giants gut local newsrooms and largely ignore local issues.

Now the Federal Communications Commission’s new media ownership rules threaten to make a bad situation worse. The agency’s December 2007 vote to lift the longstanding ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership would allow a single corporation to own both the major daily newspaper and a broadcast station in the same media market.

The new rules would permit unchecked consolidation, benefiting Big Media at the expense of local owners and stations and the communities that depend on them. Unless Congress or the courts step in, the rules will mean more newsroom layoffs and less quality news in communities across America.

The FCC’s massive giveaway to Big Media is unacceptable for an agency required by law to encourage localism in media markets. But you can take action to stop the FCC and protect localism.

Learn more at StopBigMedia.com