Murdoch Gets New Shot at New York Post : Media: FCC waiver breaks a longstanding policy barring newspaper and TV ownership in the same market.

In an unprecedented move, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday granted Rupert Murdoch’s request for a waiver from the government’s bar against owning a newspaper and TV station in the same market.

Murdoch, whose New York Post galloped through the 1980s with titillating headlines and horror stories, is thus one step closer to owning the ribald tabloid again. He already owns WNYW-TV in the same city.

Under federal “cross-ownership” rules, media companies are barred from owning newspapers and TV or radio stations in the same market. The rules were adopted in 1975 to spur diversity in media ownership. Jointly owned newspapers and media outlets that predated the rules were allowed to stand.

Murdoch, who owned the Post from 1976 to 1988, has been operating it since April under an agreement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court after attempts to find a another buyer were unsuccessful.

The New York Post, a scrappy tabloid famous for headlines such as “Headless Body Found in Topless Bar,” has been in financial turmoil for several years as a succession of owners have failed to turn it around. Murdoch was forced to sell the paper when he bought the Fox TV stations, which later became the cornerstone of his fourth network.

Murdoch on Tuesday said a definitive offer to buy the Post still depends on negotiations with the paper’s labor unions. The Post has about 700 employees and has been losing $250,000 to $350,000 a week.

The FCC vote on the waive was 2 to 1. Chairman James H. Quello said he supported a permanent waiver of the agency’s cross-ownership rules “to avoid the risk of diminishing media diversity that would be caused by the threatened demise” of the paper.

In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Andrew C. Barrett opposed a permanent waiver because he feared it would start a trend among financially troubled newspapers. Barrett favored a temporary waiver so the FCC could monitor whether two media outlets under a single owner would hinder diversity of viewpoints in the city.

The swing vote rested with Commissioner Ervin S. Duggan, who said that without a “quick resuscitation,” a “distinctive voice in the New York marketplace could well be lost.”

Under Murdoch, the Post regularly flayed liberal politicians and boosted favorite causes, such as an attempt to draft former New York City Mayor Ed Koch to run for governor.

The FCC’s decision is nonetheless a major political victory for Murdoch, whose previous tries for a waiver of the cross-ownership rules were foiled by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The Massachusetts Democrat forced Murdoch to sell a TV station in Boston, where Murdoch also owns a newspaper.

Mickey Gardner, a communications attorney in Washington, called the FCC’s decision “very sound” since it would ostensibly save the newspaper from collapse.

But Gardner said he did not expect the decision to trigger a rush of other waiver requests. “The FCC grants waivers on an ad hoc basis, and the facts about New York were very compelling,” he said.

Several minority organizations had petitioned the FCC against granting the waiver, claiming it had fanned racial prejudice under Murdoch’s ownership. The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People argued that the demise of the Post would pave the way for the launch of a more ethnically diverse publication.