News Release

September 4, 2003

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Cato telecom expert: Court's FCC ruling ignores First Amendment
Media ownership rules are out of touch with modern media marketplace realities

WASHINGTON--Yesterday, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted a stay blocking new Federal Communications Commission media ownership rules originally scheduled to take effect on Thursday. In response to the court's decision, the Cato Institute's director of telecommunications studies, Adam Thierer, issued this statement:

"Previous court decisions have cut the opposite way, suggesting that the FCC rules were out of touch with current marketplace realities and badly in need of revision. But now the court apparently feels the rules go too far in the opposite direction. While many disagree about the substance of the rules, this judicial schizophrenia and endless legal wrangling is not likely to help anyone out in the long term.

"What is perhaps most ironic about the legislative and legal firestorm that has erupted over this issue is that the FCC proposed fairly minor, incremental changes to the existing rules. And some rules remained unchanged or were even tightened. So what exactly is it that the 3rd Circuit objects to -- the deregulatory or re-regulatory elements of the FCC's latest ruling?

"Regardless, the fact remains that changes in the modern media marketplace have given citizens an unprecedented diversity of news, information, and entertainment options that undercuts the rationale behind many of the current regulations. Considering the dismal state of media competition and diversity just 20 to 30 years ago, today's world is characterized by information abundance, not scarcity. The `Chicken Little-ism' that has pervaded the debate so far is completely unwarranted. Talk of mythical media monopolies and an end to `diversity' and `localism' in broadcasting represent scare tactics with no basis in reality. Information and entertainment cannot be monopolized, especially in an age of breakneck technological change.

"Moreover, as previous courts have found, the First Amendment remains of paramount importance when considering such restrictions of media. Limiting the size of the soapbox that media owners hope to build to speak to the American people is offensive to the free speech rights we hold sacred in this country."

Adam Thierer and Cato's director of technology studies Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. addressed the controversy surrounding the FCC's ownership rules in "The Media Ownership Debate: Who Are the Real Media Masters?"