Runaway consolidation of our country’s media outlets has eliminated media ownership opportunities for women and minorities and led to the decline of quality journalism and the loss of local and independent voices.

Now the cartel of huge conglomerates that dominates our media wants to rewrite the rules so they can get even bigger. Free Press is leading the fight to stop further media consolidation while working to promote diverse ownership and ensure that media serve the public interest. Media ownership issues include:

• Media Consolidation: Corporate media are silencing diverse voices and viewpoints, impoverishing our public discourse, abandoning quality journalism and eliminating local media content. Our democracy needs better media.
  
  
• Cross Ownership: The ban on cross ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in a single media market has protected media diversity, competition and localism for more than 30 years. Now Big Media firms and their allies at the Federal Communications Commission, the federal agency that regulates media in the United States, are trying to eliminate the cross-ownership rule.
  
  
• Diversity in Ownership: Female and minority voices are vanishing from the public airwaves, and women and minorities have been systematically shut out of ownership of our country's broadcast media. This media diversity crisis means that women and people of color have few stations that share their concerns or serve their needs.
  
  
• Ownership at the FCC: The FCC plays a critical role in preserving media ownership rules that protect the public interest. Free Press frequently partners with other public interest groups to file comments and documents with the FCC on ownership issues.

The Free Press policy team regularly meets with legislators on Capitol Hill to advocate for legislation to promote diverse and democratic media ownership, and Free Press research and legal teams submit comments to the FCC.