FCC Chairman Michael Powell has defended the agency’s new media ownership rules many times since their June 2 passage. After the Senate vote to overturn the rules, Powell issued this statement:
“This resolution, if passed by the House and signed by the president, would only muddy the media regulatory waters. It would bring no clarity to media regulation, only chaos. It would create perverse results, such as a return to looser radio rules permitting greater consolidation.
This is a harm the FCC’s new media rules were designed to avoid. It would also reinstate ownership rules that were overturned by the courts. Under the terms of the resolution, the FCC would be forbidden from reissuing any substantially similar rules. In short the agency would be powerless to cure the infirmities identified by the court.”
The resolution now goes to the House. Powell urged members of that body “to take a more considered view of the public interest.”
Powell Urges House to Consider Public Interest
Powell Urges House to Consider Public Interest
