The FCC upheld a 2006 order letting Rupert Murdoch transfer contr...

for a continued waiver of cross-ownership rules so it could own the New York Post, WWOR-TV Secaucus, N.J., and WNYW New York. The commission dismissed opposition from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the United Church of Christ, saying they had no standing because they hadn’t taken part in the original proceeding. It also dismissed an earlier Free Press opposition. The objection was overlooked because of “the informal nature of Free Press’s original objection and the fact that Free Press took no action to renew its objection when the transfer applications were filed and placed on public notice,” the new order said. “Because the grant of the waiver simply involves an internal corporate restructuring and does not create any new media combinations, it does not reduce the diversity of voices in the New York market.” The new order was accompanied by statements by Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps dissenting from the 2006 order but not put out with it. The dissenters said the older order didn’t include a thorough analysis of the cross-ownership waivers. The new order “does nothing to address these concerns,” Copps said. “It fails to even mention the fact that, with the acquisition of the Wall Street Journal, News Corp. operates two of the New York market’s most popular television stations and two of its most popular newspapers.” News Corp., Free Press and Rainbow/PUSH didn’t respond to messages seeking comment or declined to comment. The order “is a slap from the dead hand of the previous administration,” said Cheryl Leanza, policy director of the United Church of Christ, a petitioner. “It could not exemplify more the problems of the lack of transparency, and incremental erosion of media ownership rules that we have suffered from for many years.” Also late Friday, the FCC released eight other broadcast- related orders approved by the commissioners, including two from May 2008. The order “is a slap from the dead hand of the previous administration,” said Cheryl Leanza, policy director of the United Church of Christ, a petitioner. “It could not exemplify more the problems of the lack of transparency, and incremental erosion of media ownership rules that we have suffered from for many years.” People familiar with the orders said the lag between approval and publication came about partly because commissioners’ written statements were held up. The orders were “finalized and released in the backlog clearing-out process,” an FCC spokesman said.