Sept. 18, 2006 – A former lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission is alleging that the Commission ordered the destruction of a 2004 draft study showing that greater media-ownership concentration could be detrimental for local TV news coverage.
The study, a copy of which was reviewed by The NewStandard, determined that locally-owned TV stations carried five more minutes of news during 30-minute broadcasts compared to stations owned by non-local media companies, as well as three additional minutes of local "on-location" news. Researchers based their analysis on a review of 4,000 news stories broadcast from 60 stations in 1998.
Adam Candeub, who worked at the FCC when the report was written, told the Associated Press last week that managers told employees to destroy "every last piece" of the report. "The whole project was just stopped ? end of discussion," he said.
The study was publicly revealed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D?California) during FCC chairman Kevin Martin?s confirmation hearing on September 12. Natalie Ravitz, a spokesperson for Boxer, told the AP the senator received a copy of the report "indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public."
In a letter sent last Friday, Martin told Boxer he and his staff had been unaware of the report, and that he is currently attempting to uncover why it was never released to the public.
In 2003, the FCC voted to relax ownership rules and allow companies to own multiple TV stations in one local market. The US Court of Appeals, however, struck down the FCC?s rule changes in 2004. While the FCC did not appeal the decision, the agency announced in June that it was again seeking to change media-ownership rules.
