The Wall Street Journal, which opined that the FCC’s limited relaxation of cross-ownership rules should be allowed to stand, was acting in opposition to Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who is trying to stop the FCC. WSJ has allowed Dorgan ink in its own pages to respond to the newspaper’s own argument. Dorgan said there was nothing surprising about WSJ’s support for the relaxed rules. “But it is surprising and inaccurate for the editorial to suggest that because there are so many Internet sites and so many different television channels that there is not substantial concentration,” he wrote. “Take a look at those who own those same Internet sites and those same television channels, because it turns out that a large portion of that ownership is by the same few major corporations. So while the Journal says there are more voices, I say, yes, but these voices are controlled by the same ventriloquist.”
RBR/TVBR observation: Was Dorgan partly responsible for WSJ owner New Corporation’s decision to pull out of the bidding for Tribune’s Newsday? The acquisition would have been brought cross-ownership rules into play, and the battle over Dorgan’s Resolution of Disapproval was pending in Congress as the bidding was in progress. Anyway, give some integrity points to Wall Street Journal for providing a forum for one of its chief critics.
