Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin has been criticized for paying too much attention to the health of newspapers in justifying the FCC's vote to loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban.

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Praising the decision Friday was Free Press, which has been behind a grassroots effort to thwart the FCC vote via its StopBigMedia.com Web site, which, the group said, generated calls and more than 250,000 letters to senators asking them to vote for the resolution.

"This is simply astounding," executive director Josh Silver wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "President Bush has promised that he will try to veto this bill. But tonight the Senate and the American people have spoken with one voice. This historic vote sends a clear message that the only people who support more media consolidation are big-media lobbyists and the White House."

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