Common Cause Response to Supreme Court Granting Cert. Petition in FCC v. Prometheus

Statement of Michael Copps, Former FCC Commissioner and Common Cause Special Adviser

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.

Statement of Michael Copps, Former FCC Commissioner and Common Cause Special Adviser

The Third Circuit rejected the FCC’s media ownership rule changes time and time again because each time the FCC ignored the Third Circuit’s insistence to provide evidence supporting those changes. The FCC has a statutory mandate to examine the impact that changing its media ownership rules would have on ownership diversity. But as the Third Circuit most recently found, the FCC used flawed data and woefully insubstantial analysis that failed to consider how changing its rules would impact ownership diversity. We know that the number of broadcast stations women and people of color own is abysmally low as media conglomerates continue to consolidate. Our democracy suffers when just a few entities own the majority of our media, and the FCC’s media ownership rules are intended to prevent that from happening.

We look forward to demonstrating to the Supreme Court why the Third Circuit’s decision was in accord with legal precedent that requires the FCC to provide a reasoned explanation for its decisions. The FCC must adequately examine the impact of its rule changes on ownership diversity. Aren’t courts still entitled to evidence before they hand down verdicts?