Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Rules restricting cross-media ownership are an important part of governmental control of media ownership rules in the United States, and the policies and politics underlying the structure of the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership (NBCO) Rule have been the subject of much debate in recent years. The term "crossownership" refers to one media company's ownership of both a broadcast station and a newspaper, or a television and radio station. Among other advantages, crossownership arguably allows the media to operate more efficiently and facilitates the development of new technologies.' But the problem with allowing for a high level of consolidation across newspapers, television, and radio is that one corporation may come to control the flow of information locally, and a small number of media conglomerates may dominate the media on a national level. This paper focuses on the principles of public policy underlying the NBCO Rule and the implications of the latest scheme that the FCC has proposed to encourage and support the three principles of diversity, competition, and localism that govern the FCC's broad 2 mandate, with special attention to localism. This paper defines 'localism' as the level of local content that is responsive to the community within television and radio programming.

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