Maria Cantwell: “earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, issued rules making changes to long-standing limits on…”

“earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, issued rules making changes to long-standing limits on the types and amounts of media outlets that can be owned and controlled by a single company. These rule changes drastically increase the ability of a few companies to control access to information in this country. The rule changes undermine the public interest and do nothing to ensure diversity of viewpoints, ``localism,'' coverage of events in local communities by people who are a part of that community, or to ensure that healthy competition exists amongst media outlets. The American people know these changes are not in the public interest, and that is why I have heard directly from more than 1,650 of my constituents urging Congress to overturn the FCC's actions. Specifically, the rule changes adopted by the FCC earlier this year would allow a single company to control television stations with access to almost half of the American broadcast audience. How that can be billed as increasing competition or diversity of viewpoint is a mystery. Given that these rules were written with only one public hearing and without opportunity for public comment, it is not surprising that they fail to reflect the public interest. It is important to recognize that overturning these rules is not just about preventing additional domination of the airwaves. It is about ensuring the survival of local newspapers that genuinely know and are a part of the community.”