E-mail this page Reader Comments (below)

By BART JANSEN, Washington D.C. Correspondent Friday, October 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - Mainers could lose local reporting at their newspapers and television stations if the Federal Communications Commission allows mergers in the same towns, a coalition of consumer groups warned Thursday.

The commission is considering abandoning a rule that prevents the same company from owning a newspaper and TV station in the same city. But the report from groups, including Common Cause and Consumer Federation of America, warned that reducing the small number of media owners in Maine would starve the state of local news.

"Clearly Maine is one of those states where we feel like the impact of mergers would not be good," said Chellie Pingree, a former Maine legislator who is president of Common Cause. "It would not be good for the information that people are able to receive and that you need to have in a democracy."

The report comes as the FCC is considering whether to allow more of what is called cross-ownership of newspapers and television stations. A 2003 plan to loosen the rules was overturned in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, leading to the latest round of rulemaking and hearings.

The five-member commission is divided on the subject of whether to abandon a 1975 prohibition against the same company owning a newspaper and a television station in the same city.

Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said ownership rules haven't been updated for years and need to change to reflect the struggling newspaper industry and the ability of media companies to serve local communities.

The Media Institute, a nonprofit research foundation whose board includes members of major media companies, filed a comment Thursday with the commission arguing for a repeal of the cross-ownership ban. The rule puts newspapers and TV stations at a competitive disadvantage with Internet and cable companies, the institute argued.

But Commissioner Michael Copps opposed the 2003 plan. He said it provoked 3 million e-mails and letters in opposition to the commission.

Consolidation could only occur with the sale of a newspaper or TV station. The nation's largest newspaper chain, Gannett Co., is often cited as a potential suitor for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram or Bangor Daily News because the company already owns WCSH-TV Channel 6 in Portland and WLBZ-TV Channel 2 in Bangor among its 23 stations.

Frank Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times and chairman of Blethen Maine Newspapers, which includes the Press Herald/Telegram, has lobbied Congress and testified against media consolidation.

The Media and Democracy Coalition, which studied media ownership in 12 states where their members are active, contends that mergers among newspapers and television stations in Portland, Bangor or Augusta would violate Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

These agencies gauge mergers in terms of the size of a paper's or station's audience on what is called a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. A score that changes as little as 10 percent in a company's dominance in a market after a merger raises alarms.

If a paper and station were to merge in Portland, the score would rise from 50 percent to more than 60 percent. In Bangor, it would jump from 40 percent to 65 percent. And in Augusta, it would rise from 45 percent to 60 percent.