The Fight to Block Murdoch's 'Newsday' Bid is On

Rupert Murdoch doesn't even have a deal to buy Newsday yet, just the outlines of one, but already the protests are starting. As I've reported, while regulators could find various reasons to block a News Corp. acquisition of the Tribune-owned paper, they might easily overlook them all in light of the newspaper industry's dire circumstances.

But the forces of anti-consolidation will try their best to sway them. This just went out from Free Press:

Murdoch's Newsday Deal Is Bad News for New York Free Press Urges FCC to Scrutinize Tribune's sale of Long Island paper to News Corp.

WASHINGTON -- According to numerous press reports, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is close to completing a $580 million deal to purchase the Long Island daily Newsday from Tribune Company. S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, made the following statement:

"Completion of this backroom deal between Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell would give one company News Corp. control of Newsday, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and two TV stations in the New York market. And that doesn't even take into account Murdoch's ownership of the Fox network, Fox News Channel, and all of his other holdings in cable TV, movies, local TV stations and newspapers worldwide. That's too much power in too few hands.

"The sale of Newsday to News Corp. is a clear violation of even the severely weakened FCC limits on how much media one company can own in one market. This sale should not be permitted under any circumstances. New York, like the rest of America, needs more media choices, viewpoints and competition -- not more consolidation."

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