Sharpton Meets With Adelstein
Wants FCC to review News Corp,'s waivers to own TV stations, newspapers in New York
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/25/2009 12:27:52 PM MT
As he promised, Rev. Al Sharpton had a meeting with at least one FCC commissioner Wednesday--he told reporters it was Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. "There was a meeting," Adelstein's office confirmed, but did not characterize it.
Acting Chairman Michael Copps was in Gettysburg, PA, for a prearranged trip to an FCC office housing a call center and off-site operations in case of emergencies.
Sharpton wants the FCC to review News Corp.'s waivers to own TV stations and newspapers in New York. He has criticized the waivers in the past, but in this case it was prompted by a New York Post cartoon he said had racial overtones.
News Corp.'s New York TV station licenses--WNYW and WWOR--have yet to be renewed. It is allowed to own both those stations and the New York Post under two waivers, a pemanent one for WNYW and a temporary one covering both stations and the newspaper, according to the FCC.
According to someone present at Sharpton's exit from the meeting, he was accompanied by Urban League President Marc Morial, Monique Morris of the NAACP, and New York City Councilman Charles Barron.
Sharpton reportedly described it as a fact-finding mission and said he would wait and see what the FCC did, adding that this was a new FCC and he did not expect them just to rubber stamp the renewal, as might have been the case with the previous one.
FCC: News Corp. Order Was Not Buried
05/25/2009'Newsday' Sale to Murdoch on Hold?
04/25/2006IN BRIEF
11/01/2008
