News Business Prognosis Not That ‘Bleak,’ FTC Chair Says
The Federal Trade Commission will complete its analysis of the news business within “the next month or so” and the tone of the report may not be as bleak as it first appeared, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said at a Federal Communications Bar Association luncheon Wednesday. “I'm not so worried about that,” Leibowitz said. “There are a lot of great stories about new start-ups.” The report will likely suggest that the government help the news industry by putting more information online and may look at competition rules, Leibowitz said.
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Leibowitz was joined on the dais by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, the son of two news reporters. McDowell said he saw “a generational divide” on the state of the news business. “If you're over 35, you may think media is dying,” he said. “If you're under 35 … you're inundated with information.” He also said the media “landscape is evolving too rapidly” for the FCC to get involved with onerous regulation. He said the FCC ought to follow the first part of the Hippocratic oath when they considered media regulation: “First, do no harm.”
Leibowitz also reiterated his agency’s concern with common carrier exemptions, which he said protect scam artists. Cracking down on mislabeled international calling cards, for instance, has led to common carrier disputes, he said: “We think [exemptions are] an anachronism that made a lot of sense in 1915.” Leibowitz also drew laughs when he said that overturning common carrier exemptions would also give the trade commission jurisdiction over airline mergers and he asked the audience if they had recently had a bad experience that they'd like to talk about with him about. McDowell said he didn’t think it’s his place to “tell Congress what to do,” but he said as “an academic” exercise it was interesting to think about getting rid of common carrier exemptions in place of competition laws.
A member of the audience asked McDowell what he thought of AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile. No sooner was the question asked then Commissioners Meredith Baker and Mignon Clyburn stood up from their tables and left. “Bye, ladies,” McDowell said, “see you back at the office.” He then went on to say that he hopes “every issue” will be examined in the FCC’s review, including the deal’s impact on regional markets as well as the national wireless market.
Overall, McDowell said the FCC under Chairman Julius Genachowski deserved “high marks” for clearing out the backlog of indecency complaints, but “relatively low marks” for writing overly broad regulations. He also reiterated his support for “a shot clock” on government action on questions. “I think we really owe it to the American people, the taxpayers, to move through it as fast we can,” he said.