Media Council to Challenge Illegal Raycom Media Deal Involving KHNL, KGMB, and KFVE

News Release/For Immediate Release Contact: Chris Conybeare, conybeare@msn.com, 808-225-6288 Gerald Kato, gkato@hawaii.edu, 808-223-3844

Media Council Hawai‘i (formerly the Honolulu Community-Media Council) will challenge the illegal Raycom Media deal involving Stations KHNL, KGMB, and KFVE at the FCC. Media Council Hawai‘i (MCH) is pleased to announce that it has retained as counsel the Institute for Public Representation (IPR) at Georgetown Law for assistance in challenging the merger of the news and business operations at KHNL, KGMB, and KFVE. Alabama-based Raycom Media, owner of KHNL and KFVE, and MCG Capital Corp, owner of KGMB, said on August 18, 2009 that they would merge services and lay off 68 employees as part of a so-called “shared services agreement.”

MCH asserts that the agreement is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to avoid regulatory scrutiny by the FCC and that Raycom will exercise control over all three stations in defiance of FCC ownership rules. Raycom will control 45% of the revenues in this market as well as editorial control, programming and advertising sales related to all 3 stations.

“Stations are granted licenses to serve the public interest in the communities they serve. This arrangement will reduce diversity of opinion, create canned newscasts, increase advertising rates, strangle independent programming, and raise barriers to any who wish to enter the market. These effects are all contrary to public interest and the law”, said Chris Conybeare, president of MCH.

MCH board member and journalism professor Gerald Kato added that the merger raises alarming questions about concentration of control of broadcast facilities in Hawai‘i and across the nation. “Television stations are bought and sold for millions of dollars, while owners pay only a few hundred dollars every 8 years to renew their license to use the public airwaves,” Kato said. “The public deserves greater respect from broadcast licensees rather than disregard for broadcast ownership law and disregard for longtime employees,” Kato added.

Conybeare said it is an honor to have IPR representing MCH in this important issue involving the future of television and television news in Hawai`i. IPR is one of the nation’s premier public interest law centers. It was founded by Georgetown Law in 1971, and has both a public interest law firm and a clinical education program. The Institute works in the areas of First Amendment and media law, environmental law, civil rights and general public interest matters. It also has considerable FCC expertise.

Media Council Hawai‘i was established in 1970. It the oldest of the 5 volunteer Media Councils in the United States. MCH members include individuals from the community and the media industry. It is a non-partisan, non-profit, non-governmental independent group, which seeks to improve public access to information, strengthen public support for First Amendment rights and freedoms, broaden public understanding of the role of the media, and promote accurate and fair journalism in Hawai‘i. MCH will be conducting public forums, and other activities to counter the self-serving statements made by Raycom and the parties to this deal. MCH welcomes broad public participation in the discussion. Those interested in being involved with these activities are encouraged to contact MCH at info@mediacouncil.org.