University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange College of Law Faculty Scholarship Law November 2009 Toward A Better Competition Policy For The Media Maurice E. Stucke University of Tennessee,
[email protected] Allen P. Grunes Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_lawpubl Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Stucke, Maurice E. and Grunes, Allen P., "Toward A Better Competition Policy For The Media" (2009). College of Law Faculty Scholarship. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_lawpubl/40 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Law Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. TOWARD A BETTER COMPETITION POLICY FOR THE MEDIA: THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING ANTITRUST POLICIES THAT SUPPORT THE MEDIA SECTOR’S UNIQUE ROLE IN OUR DEMOCRACY. Maurice E. Stucke∗ & Allen P. Grunes †‡ It is difficult to formulate meaningful competition policy when there is a fierce debate over the current competitiveness of the media industry. After addressing the importance of the marketplace of ideas in our democracy, our article examines the current state of the media industry, including the response of traditional media to audience declines, the growth of new media, the impact of media consolidation (including its impact on minority and women ownership), and the role of the Internet. In response to recent calls for liberalizing cross-ownership rules to protect traditional media, our article outlines why conventional antitrust policy is difficult to apply in media markets, and how the concerns underlying media mergers differ from other industries.