Copps endorses ownership-review pace
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/27/2002 4:00:00 AM
Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps endorsed the FCC's go-slow approach to revising media-ownership rules in a speech to the Media Institute Wednesday.
"If we remove all of the limits and it turns out to be a mistake," Copps asked, "Do we put the genie back in the bottle?"
His comments followed confirmation last week by FCC staff that agency chairman Michael Powell plans to combine all outstanding ownership reviews into one proceeding, with final revisions approved in spring 2003.
Copps called for the FCC to hold hearings on ownership limits both in field offices around the country and at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Predictions of the demise of today's 35 percent cap on a TV-station group's national household reach and of ownership restrictions are "premature and, I think, wrong," he added.
Copps wasn't shy about reiterating his long-standing complaint about raunchy broadcast programming, even though the Media Institute has fiercely resisted the type of restraints he favors as violation of the First Amendment.
To avoid government intervention, he renewed his call for a voluntary industry code of conduct that can "pass court muster."
Media executives privately concede that programming standards are deteriorating rapidly, he said, recalling one executive who recently admitted that he won't let his children watch TV without adult supervision.
"I found that a tad disturbing," Copps added.
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