The US Senate is holding hearings on whether to deregulate media ownership. “When the Federal Communications Commission was debating whether it should give away or sell $70 billion worth of digital broadcast spectrum in 1996, newspaper editorial pages weighed in. Senator John McCain’s list, a consumer group survey, found that every paper favoring a giveaway was owned by a company that also owned television stations that, naturally, wanted the spectrum for free. Every paper opposing a giveaway was owned by a company with no substantial interest in television.” A coincidence, wondered senators…?