Free Press to Newport: We won't be silenced!

Two weeks ago, Free Press launched Change the Channels, a new campaign to uncover and fight covert consolidation, a practice whereby TV stations outsource their local news operations to their competitors resulting in less local competition and diversity, and sometimes even duplicate newscasts. We dubbed this trend “covert consolidation” because the stations involved often use contractual agreements and backroom deals to get around the FCC’s media ownership laws. But the results can be just as bad as outright consolidation.

We seem to have struck a nerve.

Newport Television, one of the worst covert consolidation offenders, sent Free Press a letter last week. A “cease-and-desist” letter, to be exact. In it, Newport falsely alleges that Free Press infringed its copyright by showing a brief screen image of a joint website shared by WTEV-TV and WAWS-TV. (One station is actually owned by Newport, the other is “controlled” by the company).

The screen shot was used in a Free Press video illustrating how TV stations across the country have combined resources and operations in ways that may run afoul of the purpose and goals of FCC media ownership laws. Days later, Newport Television contacted YouTube and had Free Press’s video taken down.

This bogus claim is a clear and outrageous attempt to intimidate Free Press, and to silence commentary on this important issue. Free Press’s use and critique of this material clearly fall within the bounds of “fair use,” the legal principal that allows portions of a copyrighted work to be used for education and criticism.
Instead of debating the issue on the merits, Newport is seeking to shut down public debate and criticism.

But Free Press is not backing down and won’t be bullied into silence.
We’ve sent Newport a response and have published their original letter. We’ve also uploaded the video to another service and have reported it on our website. As Free Press responded in its letter to Newport, “No doubt, Newport would prefer that these stations not be used as examples of shady broadcast industry practices—but of course ‘chagrin’ is not a cognizable claim” under U.S. copyright law.

We have long argued that consolidated media power is dangerous. Media conglomerates routinely bully their competition and their critics, cozy up to the politically powerful, and put the interests of their shareholders over the needs of the communities they’re supposed to be serving. The recent News Corp. scandal in the UK is a vivid illustration of almost every one of these issues. But we don’t have to look across the ocean to see these issues play out, as Newport has clearly shown.

Newport has a lot to lose as our campaign gains traction. We have found over 200 stations engaged in covert consolidation in 80 communities. Newport brags that it "owns, operates, and programs or provides sales and other services" to 56 TV stations in 24 markets. Ironically, Newport argued that our video was “false and misleading” for claiming that stations were covertly consolidating; but the letter came from one lawyer (in-house counsel for Newport Television) representing both stations, even though Newport supposedly owns only one of them. This appears to confirm the kind of convert consolidation Free Press identified in the video.

Notably, Newport’s letter also came the same week that a federal court reasserted the importance of the FCC’s media ownership laws, overturning recent attempts to allow more media consolidation. The FCC is planning to reconsider its media ownership rules this summer, and we are going to fight to make sure covert consolidation is part of the debate, whether Newport Television likes it or not.

I hope you will join us.

Newport's Cease and Desist Letter: