Unions and Nonprofits Representing Journalists, Writers and Communications Professionals Petition FCC to Stay Order That Would Allow Massive Media Consolidation

WASHINGTON — A coalition of unions and nonprofit organizations representing journalists, writers and other communications professionals have urged the Federal Communications Commission to stay a recent order repealing its long-standing and congressionally required National Television Multiple Ownership Rule while a legal challenge regarding the decision can move forward. 

Read the petition for a stay.

In 2004, Congress approved legislation directing the FCC to ensure that no owner of television stations reached more than 39 percent of the national audience. This congressional effort reflected a desire to ensure a diversity of perspectives in the press and to avoid monopolies or conglomerate dominance in broadcast media.

For more than two decades, the FCC’s regulations respected this congressional directive, but on Oct. 1, 2026, the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr released the final text of an order repealing the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule — disregarding the law and violating a clear congressional mandate. 

In response to the rule’s repeal, a coalition including Free Press, Future Film Coalition, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America, Public Knowledge, Reporters Without Borders, the News Guild-Communications Workers of America, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West filed a petition with the FCC, notifying the agency of a forthcoming legal challenge to its decision to repeal the ownership rule. The coalition asked the FCC to prevent the irreparable harm that would come from implementing the repeal before a court can consider the legal challenge. 

The coalition is represented in the matter by Democracy Forward, as well as longtime public-interest lawyer Gigi Sohn.  

“The FCC cannot simply ignore the laws Congress makes just because the current agency head wants to,” said Matt Wood, vice president of policy and general counsel at Free Press. “Unfortunately, Chairman Carr serves only Donald Trump, not the people of this country. Carr threatens broadcasters when their coverage angers the administration, but tosses them bones like this repeal when the biggest broadcast conglomerates toe the line. Unlawful media consolidation makes for bad news in any era. It’s especially troubling when Carr ignores the First Amendment and hands out regulatory favors on a political whim.” 

“Consolidation is the main reason we have lost tens of thousands of journalism jobs in the past two decades,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “Media workers and the public lose out when news organizations merge into conglomerates. The FCC’s disregard for the law will inevitably lead to more job losses, less-informed local communities and increased costs for every American.”

“Consolidation puts decisions about local news in the hands of distant corporate headquarters. Communities lose independent coverage they rely on, including during emergencies. The FCC should keep the ownership cap in place while the courts review its repeal, before another round of mergers does lasting damage to local news,” said John Bergmayer, legal director for Public Knowledge. 

“Repealing the multi-ownership rule eliminates the only meaningful limit on TV-ownership consolidation in the U.S., thus reducing media pluralism, eliminating choices for news consumers and threatening jobs in an industry already reeling from widespread layoffs and closures. Furthermore, the FCC lacks the power to repeal a rule set by Congress. If allowed to move forward, this policy will benefit a small handful of powerful owners of media conglomerates while harming journalists, local and independent TV stations and, not least of all, the American people,” said Clayton Weimers, executive director for Reporters Without Borders, Inc. 

“United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry continues its work for media accountability because our members’ witness for justice begins in their own communities. Without locally accountable news, they struggle to know what leaders are doing at home and across the country, and can’t act on their care for their neighbors, all children and the earth. The FCC’s unlawful repeal of the bright-line national ownership cap not only hands more power to fewer conglomerates, but also to an agency that has shown a willingness to trade merger approvals for partisan political gain in violation of the First Amendment,” said Cheryl A. Leanza, policy advisor for the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry. 

“Consolidation is occurring at every level, in every configuration and market within media, and writers from film to TV series to broadcast news have experienced the harms. The FCC’s action to enable still more mergers among broadcast-station owners threatens to give even greater control to media’s gatekeepers,” said Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West in a joint statement. 

“Localism, viewpoint diversity and competition in the media are all crucial to a functioning democracy, and by repealing the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule, the FCC is paving the way for corporations to erode an informed public and our democracy through massive media consolidation deals,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The need for civic and community engagement is essential, especially as First Amendment challenges and bullying have invaded the media landscape and threatened to prevent people from having choices in the media they consume. Democracy Forward is honored to represent this coalition to fight for the current limits regarding media consolidation.”

The motion raises a series of issues with the FCC order repealing the multi-ownership rule. In addition to being directly contrary to law and based on faulty logic and errors in reasoning, the repeal of the multi-ownership rule would directly harm members of the organizations challenging the unlawful order.

Historically, broadcast-media consolidation has resulted in newsroom closures, layoffs and other structural changes to broadcasters’ operations that would be difficult or impossible to reverse. This would harm journalists, communications professionals, scripted and nonfiction filmmakers, reporters, writers, groups dedicated to the promotion and preservation of independent film, and the unions that represent them. These workers would face reduced access to job opportunities, diminished working conditions and severely limited bargaining power with their employers. In addition, decreased coverage of local news would harm communities everywhere that benefit from robust local-news operations.

Democracy Forward’s legal team involved in this matter includes Simon C. Brewer, Bradley Girard, Kali Schellenberg, Jason Brovich, Paul R.Q. Wolfson and Robin F. Thurston.