SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A23

LENGTH: 202 words

HEADLINE: A Stake In the Outcome

BODY:


Your paper did a disservice to its readers when it failed to note that The Washington Post Co. is involved in several of the most contentious policy issues now before Michael Powell's Federal Communications Commission ["The Great Deregulator," Style, June 18].

The Post Co. owns television stations and cable systems, for example, that are affected by Powell's decisions regarding critical proceedings before the FCC. They include the proposed elimination of the longstanding prohibition on a single company owning both a newspaper and television station in the same community; the current "cap," or limit, on the number of TV stations a broadcast network can own; and on whether cable systems (such as those owned by The Post Co.) should be required to provide "open access" for broadband Internet services.

Powell has become controversial not just for his position on the digital divide but also because he threatens to undo safeguards designed to ensure our digital media system is diverse and competitive.

A closer examination of your paper's own role in telecommunications policy before the FCC would have provided the material for a more informed discussion.

-- Jeffrey Chester



LOAD-DATE: June 23, 2001