WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has asked the agency's inspector general to investigate why two draft reports on television and radio ownership never saw the light of day until now.
Martin, a Republican, said Monday evening he sought the review after Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer questioned whether the agency suppressed the reports, dated 2003 and 2004, and if so, why.
Martin, who has been an FCC commissioner since 2001 and became FCC chairman in March 2005, said he and his staff had not seen the reports. He asked the FCC's inspector general to launch a probe into what happened.
"I want to assure you that I, too, am concerned about what happened to these two draft reports," he said in a letter sent to Boxer late on Monday.
One draft working paper, dated 2004, suggested television stations owned locally produced more coverage of local issues, according to Boxer. The FCC began looking into localism of media outlets in 2003 but the proceeding was never completed.
The FCC chairman at the time, Michael Powell, and his top aides have denied any knowledge of the study.
The other draft report, entitled "Review of the Radio Industry" and dated 2003, examined consolidation in the radio industry and Boxer said it showed that the number of station owners had declined.
"This is the second report in a week that I have received that appears to have been shelved by officials within the FCC and I am growing more and more concerned at these developments," Boxer said in a letter to Martin.
The FCC chairman said the reports would be entered into the agency's record for proceedings on localism and media ownership.
The FCC in 2003 voted to ease limits on ownership of television stations and lifted a ban preventing a company from owning a newspaper and a television or radio station in a market.
But the new regulations were put on hold in June 2004 after an appeals court said the FCC failed to sufficiently justify the new limits set. The FCC this year began reviewing again whether to relax the ownership limits.
The FCC has not changed the limits on how many radio stations a company can own and Martin said he would have the staff update the radio report and release it publicly before completing the ownership proceeding.
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. owner of radio stations, has continued to push for easing radio ownership restrictions.
Last week, Martin said he expected the agency to lift the ban preventing a company from owning a newspaper and a television or radio station that serve a single market but said it was unclear how the new rule would be crafted.
