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This year NCPPR revived an approach tried in years past by proponents worried about liberal news bias, but there are SEC challenges that seem likely to succeed from all three recipients. The resolution asked each company to “adopt a policy requiring that the company’s news operations tell the truth, and issue an annual report to shareholders explaining instances where the company failed to meet this basic journalistic obligation.” Comcast, Time Warner and Walt Disney each say the resolution is ordinary business because it relates to news programming content. Comcast also said NCPPR did not prove its stock ownership, while Time Warner said it was moot. So far, the SEC has agreed only with Disney and has not responded yet to the other two companies, but resolutions about news content have been omitted in the past.

Last year, NCPPR tried to get investors to vote on the proposition that companies put themselves at political risk if they use mainstream media outlets to advertise their products, but the resolution was omitted on ordinary business grounds.