By Phil Riske | Managing Editor/Rose Law Group Reporter
Top brass from Gannett Co. and Media General Inc. personally lobbied top U.S. regulators in 2007 before winning exceptions to rules that limit newspaper and broadcast ownership in the same markets.
Waivers approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permitted Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper publisher, to keep assets in Phoenix. Without the waivers, the companies might have had to sell properties because their TV-newspaper combinations weren’t permitted, even after the FCC relaxed rules for some top markets.
Flash forward: The announcement yesterday Gannett is purchasing Belo Corp., owner of KTVK-TV 3 for about $1.5 billion, means the media company would then own three Arizona television stations, KPNX, KTVK and Tucson’s KOLD and The Arizona Republic.
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close by the end of the year and would make Gannett the fourth-largest broadcast group in the U.S. The deal still needs approval from the FCC.
Corporate buyouts and product domination are just part of modern business. But when it comes to news (We could care less about the effects on TV entertainment programming.), competition is the key to getting all sides of a story. Competition gives news consumers choices. Competition in corporate journalism, sadly, is waning, with the takeover of media outlets by large corporations with political agendas.
Today, six corporations own 90 percent of the media.
It would take research to decide whether Gannett ownership has influenced news coverage by its properties, but we anticipate Thursday’s deal will eventually lead to even more layoffs at The Arizona Republic and possibly at its Arizona TV stations. Why?
How else can you afford close to $2 billion?
Only yesterday, ESPN announced it was going to fire 500 employees. Yes, 500! The Chicago Sun Times last month canned its entire staff of photographers.
Can you hear the crickets in newsrooms across the country?
