FCC considering investigation of Murdoch's media empire

Rupert Murdoch, proud owner of the conservative cable network FOX News, is facing fresh scrutiny, this time from the FCC:

Democratic Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps asked FCC chairman Kevin Martin to open an inquiry into News Corp.'s purchase of The Wall Street Journal.

In a letter to Martin Thursday (although they are only a fewhallways from each other at the FCC), Copps said he is concerned thatthe $5.6 billion combination, which is not currently before the FCC forconsideration, would result in control of a network and two of thenation's five largest newspapers by a single company and would resultin the ownership of two newspapers and two TV stations in New York, thenation's top market.

Saying this was unprecedented in the history of the FCC, Coppsproposed opening a proceeding to determine "whether approval of thistransaction accords without public-interest responsibilities" and,taking the opportunity to make a subtle pitch for regulation, posed thequestion of whether "our existing media-ownership rules and precedentsare adequate to deal with this proposed transaction."

With just a few billionaires controlling most of the American media landscape, it should not surprise people when so many among the general public are so misinformed when it comes to news.