House lawmakers take aim at media ownership rule

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of House lawmakers on Thursday joined an effort to overturn a decision by regulators that loosened media ownership restrictions in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.

Five House lawmakers introduced a "resolution of disapproval" aimed at nullifying new media ownership rules approved in February by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The move comes the week after a group of senators led by Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota, introduced a similar measure.

House lawmakers echoed Dorgan's concerns that the new FCC rule would allow too much further consolidation of the U.S. media.

"We need to use every tool available to prevent further weakening of media ownership rules," said Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee, of Washington, the chief sponsor of the House measure.

At issue is a new rule, narrowly approved by FCC commissioners on December 18, that eased a 32-year-old ban on ownership of a newspaper and broadcast outlet in a single market and granted exemptions to six specific combinations that had been pending before the agency.

The FCC's Republican chairman, Kevin Martin, has said the rule was a minimal loosening of the ban aimed at helping struggling newspapers in big cities by spreading local news-gathering costs across multiple media platforms.

However, the rule provoked criticism from consumer groups and some lawmakers, as well as the FCC's two Democratic commissioners.