• Broadcasting & Cable, Friday, May 16, 2008 9:16 AM

Without debate and with a voice vote, the Senate voted Thursday night to invalidate the FCC's December decision to loosen the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rule.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) had been pushing hard for the resolution of disapproval, arguing that media consolidation has already lead to a lack of localism and diversity in media. Dorgan got a similar resolution passed in 2003, the last time the FCC tried to revise its media ownership rules, but that effort got stuck in the House, and a federal court remanded the rules back to the FCC.

In supporting the FCC decision, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said it is "important to update the rules to reflect a changing media marketplace, and to [address] the significant financial distress of the newspaper industry." The FCC's decision has been taken to court by anti-consolidation activists as too little regulation and by broadcasters as too much.

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