Last month, Kevin Martin, head of the FCC, told the New York Times he wanted to repeal restrictions on owning newspapers and television stations in the 20 largest cities.

But soon after that, Michael Copps, a democrat on the Federal Communications Commission, announced that he wanted to open an inquiry into News Corp.’s takeover of the Wall Street Journal.

Sadly, the significance of this debate does not make it any more interesting. Regardless, Martin rebuts the only way an FCC chairman knows how: on the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times:

A company that owns a newspaper in one of the 20 largest cities in the country should be permitted to purchase a broadcast TV or radio station in the same market … Allowing cross-ownership may help to forestall the erosion in local news coverage by enabling companies that own both newspapers and broadcast stations to share some costs.

That’s so sweet of Martin to look out for Rupert Murdoch’s financial interest. But something tells us that he’ll be able to keep his head above water even without the FCC’s help.