Former FCC Chief Says He Never Saw Study

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell said he never saw a study that suggested that greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage.

Powell, now a consultant, said through his assistant Judy Mann that “he never saw the report, he never heard of the report until yesterday and he certainly never ordered anything destroyed or stopped.”

The draft report, which surfaced this week, was at odds with agency policy under Powell regarding media ownership issues. A former FCC lawyer said senior managers at the agency ordered the report destroyed.