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March 24, 2010

Court Strikes Down Restrictions on Media Ownership
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A federal court has lifted a key set of government rules aimed at
curbing media consolidation in the United States. On Tuesday, the US
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit struck down the Federal
Communications Commission’s ban on companies from owning both a
newspaper and a television or radio station in the same market. The
media reform group Free Press urged the FCC to respond to the ruling,
saying, “Evidence suggests that merging newspaper and broadcast
newsrooms hurts jobs and journalism. We hope the FCC will take decisive
action to protect media diversity and to encourage competition in local
news.”



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