(Host) Congressman Bernie Sanders says a new federal court decision that overturns an effort by the Federal Communications Commission to further deregulate the media is an important step to keep large corporations from controlling news outlets across the country. On Thursday afternoon the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the FCC’s so called “cross ownership” rules. The regulations would allow a single corporation to own a TV station, a radio station and a newspaper in the same market.
The court sent the case back to the FCC because it found that the agency used flawed data in developing the new rules. Sanders says the decision will help ensure that the public has access to a variety of different viewpoints:
(Sanders) “We need more diversity, more freedom of expression, more differences of opinion. And seeing a situation where just a handful of companies can control the media – this is a step in exactly the right direction.”
(Host) Sanders says the cross ownership rules have the potential of severely limiting public debate on many local issues:
(Sanders) “And think what that means in terms of allowing the citizens of that community to get different points of view; think what it means in terms of local politics or local elections; and think about what that means all over the country when fewer and fewer large media conglomerates are able to filter and control the information that gets to the American people.”
(Host) Sanders says he plans to pursue this issue in Congress in the coming months.