Media General’s Claims Debunked
Posted April 28th, 2007 by Jen Howard
The cover story of Tampa’s premiere alternative weekly, Creative Loafing, warns of the dangers of media consolidation — noting how thoroughly local giant Media General has been able to dominate the Tampa market.
With holdings that include the local NBC affiliate, WFLA-TV 8, the daily Tampa Tribune, Spanish-language weekly Centro Mi Diario and online hub TBO.com — Media General controls many of Tampa Bay’s most popular sources of news and information.
The FCC is hosting its fourth hearing on media ownership rules in Tampa partly because of Media General’s “convergence project,” which has combined the operations of its TV station, newspaper and online hub under one roof.
While Media General is touting convergence as the way to “deliver stronger local journalism” — the evidence suggests it’s doing the opposite.
Convergence presents reporters with an inherent conflict when writing about the other outlets owned by their parent company. And with recent staff cuts and reporters doing double and triple duty pushing stories across multiple platforms, Media General’s convergence has meant that fewer viewpoints and less news and information are dominating more of Tampa’s outlets.
Yet Media General still wants the FCC to get rid of ownership rules that have reined in its ability to further converge and consolidate Tampa’s media market. In filings with the FCC, it claimed that Tampa’s local Web sites provide viable competition to its TV station and newspaper — to the point where local ownership rules are no longer necessary.
A study by Free Press refutes Media General’s argument. Analyzing Web sites listed in Media General’s filing, Free Press found that local, independent Web sites do not produce enough original news or content to be considered competition to the Tampa giant. Among the stories studied:
- Only 11.4 percent contained original reporting of any kind — and the bulk of these were concert and restaurant reviews.
- Only 3 percent of the stories contained original reporting on “hard” news topics such as crime, education and local government or politics.
- Nearly half of the stories were not locally focused.
- Over 70 percent of the stories were “soft” news or entertainment stories.
The Free Press study also found that Tampa residents still overwhelmingly rely on traditional media outlets — like the Tribune and WFLA-TV — for their news and information. The average number of unique monthly visitors to the Web sites of the two major Tampa-area newspapers is nearly 90 times as large as those who visit Tampa’s independent Web sites.
Media General has millions of dollars, full-time staff, and the exclusive use of our public airwaves to dominate the local market. Without those kind of resources, local independent Web sites simply cannot compete or provide the diversity of viewpoints and information we need.
Whether it’s online or over-the-air, the bottom line is that the majority of our news and information is still produced by a few corporations.
Media General is sure to turn out their supporters and shills at the Tampa hearing — so it’s vital that public opposition to Big Media is heard.
If you live in the Tampa area, come to the FCC hearing.
Can’t make it? Tell the FCC to protect local, independent and diverse media.
