Press Release
Hail Mary Falls Short for Media Companies Seeking to Eliminate FCC Ownership Rules
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit threw out a case brought by media companies seeking to have that court eliminate in their entirety the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership rules. The case was a last-ditch effort by newspaper giant Media General to get the D.C. Circuit to hear its arguments after the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit ruled in favor of Free Press and other public interest groups in a related case last month.
In that decision, the Third Circuit vacated a 2007 FCC Order relaxing the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rule. That same FCC order also granted five permanent waivers of this cross ownership ban to Media General and Gannett. In the case decided today, Media General argued that the FCC’s grant of those waivers gave the D.C. Circuit jurisdiction to hear not only its waiver claims, but also constitutional challenges to the FCC’s media ownership rules also rejected by the Third Circuit.
Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright made the following statement:
“The D.C. Circuit properly rejected Media General’s obviously defective attempt to resurrect a case it had already lost. Media General used the waiver issue as a red herring to re-litigate constitutional challenges to the FCC’s media ownership rules, which already failed before other courts. The D.C. Circuit didn’t take the bait.
"The DC Circuit’s decision means that Free Press’s challenge to the Media General licenses, which were renewed in the context of the FCC’s 2007 ownership decision, is now back in play. Moreover, the FCC must now act on a pending petition for reconsideration filed by Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Benton Foundation challenging the five newspaper-broadcast cross ownership waivers granted by the FCC in the media ownership proceeding."
The case is Media General v. Federal Communications Commission. The public interest law firms Media Access Project and the Georgetown Institute for Public Representation represented public interest groups in the litigation.
In that decision, the Third Circuit vacated a 2007 FCC Order relaxing the newspaper-broadcast cross ownership rule. That same FCC order also granted five permanent waivers of this cross ownership ban to Media General and Gannett. In the case decided today, Media General argued that the FCC’s grant of those waivers gave the D.C. Circuit jurisdiction to hear not only its waiver claims, but also constitutional challenges to the FCC’s media ownership rules also rejected by the Third Circuit.
Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright made the following statement:
“The D.C. Circuit properly rejected Media General’s obviously defective attempt to resurrect a case it had already lost. Media General used the waiver issue as a red herring to re-litigate constitutional challenges to the FCC’s media ownership rules, which already failed before other courts. The D.C. Circuit didn’t take the bait.
"The DC Circuit’s decision means that Free Press’s challenge to the Media General licenses, which were renewed in the context of the FCC’s 2007 ownership decision, is now back in play. Moreover, the FCC must now act on a pending petition for reconsideration filed by Common Cause, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and Benton Foundation challenging the five newspaper-broadcast cross ownership waivers granted by the FCC in the media ownership proceeding."
The case is Media General v. Federal Communications Commission. The public interest law firms Media Access Project and the Georgetown Institute for Public Representation represented public interest groups in the litigation.
