Concentrated Media is Something We Can't Ignore: A Response to Speaker Pelosi

Stucke, Maurice E.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1369763

Abstract

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Concentrated Media is Something We Can't Ignore: A Response to Speaker Pelosi

Maurice E. Stucke

University of Tennessee College of Law

March 30, 2009

University of Tennessee Legal Studies Research Paper No. 58

Abstract:
This essay briefly responds to a request that the U.S. Department of Justice should give San Francisco Bay Area newspapers more leeway under the federal antitrust laws to merge or consolidate their business operations. The essay agrees with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's concerns that a strong, free, and independent press is vital to our democracy and in informing our citizens, especially news organizations that devote resources to gathering news. As the essay explains, the antidote is not to weaken the antitrust laws to enable large media conglomerates to become even bigger. Instead, the health of the marketplace of ideas depends on the antitrust laws to preserve divergent and competing voices.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 13

Keywords: Antitrust, FCC, Newspapers, Newspaper Preservation Act, First Amendment, Media, Clayton Act

JEL Classification: K21, L40, L41, L82

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Date posted: March 29, 2009 ; Last revised: June 8, 2009

Suggested Citation

Stucke, Maurice E., Concentrated Media is Something We Can't Ignore: A Response to Speaker Pelosi (March 30, 2009). University of Tennessee Legal Studies Research Paper No. 58. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1369763 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1369763

Contact Information

Maurice E. Stucke (Contact Author)

University of Tennessee College of Law ( email )

1505 W. Cumberland Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37996
United States
865-974-9816 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.utk.edu/people/maurice-e-stucke/