FCC-er Calls for News Corp-'WSJ' Scrutiny

Counterstrike! With F.C.C. commissioner Kevin Martin trying to urge the agency along towards relaxing its rules, one of his underlings, Democratic commissioner Michael Copps, has signaled he's not going to roll over.

Copps is sounding the call for an inquiry into News Corp.'s purchase of The Wall Street Journal, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Copps said he is concerned that the $5.6 billion combination, which is not currently before the FCC for consideration, would result in control of a network and two of the nation's five largest newspapers by a single company and would result in the ownership of two newspapers and two TV stations in New York, the nation's top market.

B&C notes, however, that the F.C.C. has previously classified the Journal as a national, not a local, newspaper, exempting it from cross-ownership restrictions.

This is the second bit of high-level backlash this week against Martin's proposed warp-speed review. On Monday, Sen. Barack Obama circulated a letter in which he called the mooted repeal of cross-ownership rules "disturbing."