The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy and Common Cause
will host a public discussion on the UNC campus at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 20
about the Federal Communication Commission’s media ownership rules and
their impact on media’s ability to meet the information needs of North
Carolina communities.
The FCC is reviewing its ownership rules and is
considering scrapping the radio/TV cross-ownership rules, loosening the
newspaper/TV cross-ownership rules, and leaving in place the radio and
TV local market ownership caps.
Former FCC Commission Chair Michael J. Copps will
introduce the topic, and a panel of media and academic experts will
discuss how the current FCC rules and proposed rule changes affect local
accountability journalism.
The program is free and open to the public and will be
held in the Pleasants Family Room in Wilson Library. Audience members
will be encouraged to comment and ask questions.
Panelists will include the following:
- Michael J. Copps, former FCC commission chair
- Jim Goodmon, president and CEO, Capitol Broadcasting Company
- Jane Mago, executive vice president and general counsel for legal and regulatory affairs, National Association of Broadcasters
- Bob Phillips, executive director, Common Cause North Carolina
- Penny Abernathy,
professor and Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics,
UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Teresa Artis (moderator), former vice president and general counsel, Capitol Broadcasting Company
- Orage Quarles III, president and publisher, The (Raleigh) News & Observer
This event will continue a discussion
begun a year ago when the Center for Media Law and Policy convened 50
media scholars, professionals, attorneys and community leaders to
discuss how Internet, cable television, satellite television and mobile
broadband service providers could help promote local accountability
journalism in North Carolina and the nation. The connection between FCC
ownership rules and local accountability journalism was considered in
that meeting.
The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication followed up the initial discussion with a report recommending ways to help meet the information needs of communities.
The UNC Center for Media Law and Policy is an
interdisciplinary research center run jointly out of UNC School of Law and the UNC School of
Journalism and Mass Communication. The center
serves as a forum for study and debate about the broad array of media
law and policy issues facing North Carolina, the nation and the world.
Read more about the center at medialaw.unc.edu.
For more information, visit the media law center's "The FCC, Media Ownership and the Tar Heel State" event page, or contact the media law center’s co-director Cathy Packer at
clpacker@email.unc.edu.
-February 18, 2013