Schakowsky Asks FCC Chair to Rethink Ownership Draft

Illinois Dem is latest in line of congressional Dems taking shot at proposed changes

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/5/2012 9:56:23 AM

Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.) is the latest Democrat to ask FCC chairman Julius Genachowski to back off a vote on his media ownership item.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Dec. 4, Schakowsky, who tried to block then-FCC chairman Kevin Martin's vote on a similar proposal in 2007, asked the chairman to rethink his draft proposal, which has been circulated to the other commissioners for a vote.

Schakowsky said she is concerned that the FCC has not sufficiently taken the Third Circuit's instruction to consider the impact of new rules on women and minorities. "I do not believe the draft order will improve the quality of American media," she wrote, "and I am concerned that it will threaten the diversity of news."

But if he does decide to hold the vote, she said, it should be in a public meeting after the public had more time to weigh in.

The chairman has already effectively delayed the vote by at least a month by granting Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's request for 30 more days comment on the associated state of media ownership (form 323) study.