FCC chief favors waivers for Tribune – USATODAY.com

Sometimes I have to wonder if FCC chief Kevin Martin truly understands the purpose of his organization. The FCC already made the questionable decision to waive the rules prohibiting Tribune Co. (or any one entity) from controlling multiple media outlets in a single market. The waiver was to expire within 2 years or the sale of the company. Now a new investor wants to buy out Tribune, but doesn’t want to have to deal with the restrictions and Martin doesn’t seem to mind. The whole point of the restriction is to encourage competition and prevent one group from controlling information in a particular area. The idea is that the more points of view the public has available, the better informed they’ll be. On the one hand you could rationalize the decision in that you’d essentially just be extending the waiver to the new owner. However, the expiration clause was put there for a reason. A saying comes to mind: “two wrongs don’t make a right.”