Press Release

NAHJ Condemns FCC Vote Allowing More Media Consolidation

Media Contact: Lisa Goodnight, (202) 662-1274

WASHINGTON - The National Association of Hispanic Journalists condemns the Federal Communications Commission's decision this week to allow media companies to own newspapers and television/radio stations in the country’s top 20 markets, a move that relaxed the 30-year-old ban on newspaper-broadcast cross ownership.

NAHJ calls for the U.S. Congress to reverse the FCC’s decision, as they did in 2003. The FCC’s move, NAHJ believes, opens the door to increased media consolidation, the loss of more journalism jobs, and less diversity of voices telling the news and serving the public interest.

. NAHJ also reiterates its position that the media ownership rules should not be changed until an independent task force examines the impact of media consolidation on minority broadcast ownership and recommends ways to reverse that decline.

"The system was already weighted against minority ownership,” said NAHJ President Rafael Olmeda. “This decision is going to make it more difficult than ever for people of color to enter into one of America's most exclusive clubs."

A study by the non-profit organization Free Press found that minorities own less than 3 percent of the full-power TV stations in the country and that the number of minority-owned stations declined 8.5 percent this past year. The FCC’s relaxing of the ban allows a newspaper company to purchase a television or radio station in the same city as long as it is not one of the top four in the market. Since minority-owned stations tend not to be in the top four, this increases the risk of minority ownership declining even further as companies seek which stations to buy.

Without the ban that’s been in place for more than 30 years, companies can influence and have more control over what people read in the local newspaper, hear on the radio and see on television, which studies have shown hurts localism and hurts diversity. NAHJ finds this disturbing because this increased consolidation can lead to further silencing of voices that represent the rapidly changing community.