As the Revolving Door Spins: Tribune Hires Former FCC Chief of Staff
WASHINGTON — The Los Angeles Times reports that Edward Lazarus, former chief of staff to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, has been hired by Tribune Co. as the company's general counsel. Tribune Co. is one of the primary companies lobbying to lift longstanding FCC limits on how much media one company can own in a given market.
Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron made the following statement:
"Tribune may be out of bankruptcy, but the bankrupt state of policymaking in Washington never ends. Maybe this job for one of Julius Genachowski's closest advisers explains why the FCC Chairman is so eager to trash the few remaining media ownership limits, going against the positions of President Obama, more than 60 members of Congress, the federal court of appeals, and millions of Americans. Maybe it explains why the FCC Chairman would try to clear the way for someone like Rupert Murdoch to buy Tribune's flagship papers in Chicago and Los Angeles.
"Or maybe Lazarus' new job is just another unseemly example of FCC regulators cashing in at the companies they were once supposed to regulate. He may be just the latest to take a spin through the revolving door, but that doesn't make his move any less nauseating."
