Cross-ownership will be focus of next FCC workshop

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The FCC will be descending into the Tampa-St. Petersburg market 4/20/10 to hold the next workshop tied to its quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules. This time, media is perhaps a more accurate term than broadcast, since the topic of the meeting will be local newspaper/broadcast co-owned combinations.


The session will run from 3PM-7:30PM, and will be held at the University of South Florida’s Marshall Student Center.

“The workshop will explore the impact of newspaper-television and newspaper-radio cross-ownership and the effect these combinations have on the quantity, quality, diversity and responsiveness of local news and public affairs programming,” said the FCC in a release.

Media Bureau Chief William Lake will provide the obligatory opening remarks, leading into a panel discussion which will include:

* Steve Waldman, Senior Advisor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (Moderator)

* Robert Dardenne, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, University of South Florida

* Karen Dunlap, President, The Poynter Institute

* Bernard Lunzer, President, The Newspaper Guild and Vice President, Communications Workers of America

* Patrick Manteiga, Editor and Publisher, La Gaceta

* John Schueler, President, Florida Communications Group, Media General, Inc.

* Ken Tonning, President and General Manager, WTSP-TV, Gannett Company, Inc.

* Marc Vila, Vice President and General Manager, WQBN-AM, Radio Tropical, Inc.

* Sandy Wilson, Vice President of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Cox Enterprises, Inc.

After a break there will be a question and answer period, followed by an opportunity for public comment.

RBR-TVBR observation: The man in the spotlight figures to be panelist John Schueler of Media General, a company which operates just the type of media combination that will be under discussion.