In essence, both sides see an altered media landscape, but disagree on how it's affecting the flow of news and information and on what should be done. The rule changes are rooted in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which directs the FCC to evaluate its ownership rules every two years. Though these changes are occurring on the watch of President George W. Bush, they have their roots in the Clinton Administration. It was Mr. Clinton's FCC Chairman, William Kennard, who last year pushed to loosen the dual-network rule. In an age of growing media empires, from Disney to AOL, changing the rules is designed to help communications giants achieve economies of scale - to help them hold on to their current holdings and grow.
Some analysts do see potential pluses in allowing more media concentration and cross ownership.
He adds that allowing companies to own TV outlets and newspapers in the same town could make both news operations better. If you change that you could get a new kind of company that is more involved in the community. But, he says, there are also dangers, such as ending up with only one or two news organizations that dominate and use their competitive advantage to ignore the public interest. But what about the Internet In theory, one reason the FCC is beginning to loosen its rules is that in the new media environment cable and the Internet provide diverse sources of information, which help keep the mainstream media honest. But critics see flaws in that argument.