Governor Gregoire Opposed to Concentration of Media Ownership

For Immediate Release: November 9, 2007

OLYMPIA � Governor Chris Gregoire today expressed her concern over concentration of media ownership through consolidation of the media. The remarks were made during testimony delivered today at a hearing held by the Federal Communications Commission in Seattle.

�I find it ironic that in an age with so many new ways for people to communicate � and so many ways to exercise the beauty of Democracy � we face the very real threat that these new ways will be controlled by a few,� said Governor Gregoire. �Such concentration stifles creativity and content. It narrows perspectives available to each of us as citizens, and it is unhealthy in a society that rests on principles of equality and diversity.�

As Attorney General, Governor Gregoire in 2002 sent a letter to the FCC expressing her alarm over the efforts of the FCC to accelerate the already rapid trend toward consolidation in the media.

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