Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of the New York Post should bar his continuing ownership of New York TV stations WWOR-TV and WNYW-TV, according to the United Church of Christ and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
They are asking the Federal Communications Commission to reject News Corp.’s request for new station licenses, citing an FCC rule banning newspaper and broadcasters in a market from buying each other. They also have asked the FCC to reverse a temporary waiver it granted News Corp.
The request is the latest action in the groups’ fight against Murdoch. The groups last year contended that continued ownership of the stations allows News Corp. to exceed the current cap on how many households any one company can reach.
In statements Wednesday, the groups contended the joint ownership reduces the number of sources of independent information available to local residents and raises other issues about media control.
“Whoever owns and controls local media outlets controls which issues and stories get covered in the news and, moreover, controls how those stories get told,” said Cheryl Leanza, managing director of the United Church of Christ’s office of communication.
Earlier this year, a UCC-filed license challenge against Univision resulted in an FCC fine of $24 million against the broadcaster for failure to comply with children’s educational programming guidelines.
News Corp. did not return a call seeking comment.
(Editor: Horowitz)