Media Center

Today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Prometheus v. Federal Communications Commission. The case addresses the question of whether the FCC properly concluded that deregulating media ownership rules would not harm its longstanding public interest goal of promoting media ownership by women and people of color. The FCC media ownership rules prohibit a single entity from owning too many newspaper, radio, and television entities within a local market.

Today, Common Cause joined Prometheus Radio Project, Movement Alliance Project, Free Press, Office of Communication, Inc. of the United Church of Christ, and National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America in filing a brief urging the Supreme Court to affirm the Third Circuit’s decision that the Federal Communications Commission was arbitrary and capricious in deregulating media ownership rules without considering what effect it would have on broadcast ownership by women and people of color. The FCC media ownership rules prohibit a single entity from owning too many newspaper, radio, and television entities within a local market.

Today, the Supreme Court granted the FCC’s petition to review the Third Circuit’s decision to vacate and remand the agency’s actions, which rolled back several media ownership rules. The rules prohibit a single entity from owning too many newspaper, radio, and television stations within a local market.

The HEROES Act takes critical steps to help secure essential pillars of our democracy undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic while providing a huge boost to address the public health and economic crises. The bill provides important bulwarks to help safeguard our elections, the Census, the U.S. Postal Service, and includes enhanced oversight requirements for the stimulus package that were sorely lacking in CARES Act passed by Congress in late March.

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission announced a $48 million civil penalty against Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the second largest media conglomerate in the nation. The fine is part of a consent decree closing three investigations including one where the FCC questioned whether Sinclair engaged in misrepresentation and a lack of candor in its attempt to acquire Tribune Media Company.

(Washington, DC) –Today, a coalition of nearly 50 organizations and media scholars joined Common Cause, PEN America, and Free Press in a letter calling on Congress to include vital funding for local news in the next stimulus package proposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter explains that House and Senate leadership should consider local press an industry vital to the nation’s health, prosperity, and recovery.