Groups oppose easing media ownership rules

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The Honolulu Community-Media Council, a media watchdog group, and the Hawai'i chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists voiced their opposition to rule changes that would allow greater concentration of media ownership.

The proposed rule change could determine whether two Honolulu TV stations, Fox affiliate KHON and CBS affiliate KGMB, can be kept by Emmis Communications Corp., an Indianapolis-based company that has owned both stations for two years under temporary FCC exemptions.

"The population of Hawai'i on every island is adversely affected by allowing this concentration of media ownership to continue," Moya Gray, chairwoman of the media council, said at an informal hearing in San Francisco on Saturday attended by Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein.

"Hawai'i's TV duopoly reflects a dangerous national trend that harms the marketplace of ideas," said Jahan Byrne, testifying on behalf of the two Hawai'i organizations. "It limits the voices of individual citizens and reduces competitive advertising opportunities."

The FCC is scheduled to decide June 2 whether to adjust the media ownership rules.

Emmis has said that the operational efficiencies of owning two stations allows it to enhance local programming such as news.