The FCC voted three to two in favor of the change Tuesday. The vote was divided along party lines.

"I think there's lots of people that would want me to ride off into the sunset," Martin said after the vote was taken. "I'm planning on staying through President Bush's term."

Martin wanted a change in the rules that would allow a company to own both a newspaper and a radio or television station in the same city. He says it will help a struggling newspaper industry but many fear that this would pave the way for further media consolidation, allowing newspapers to increase profit while citizens lose more independent news outlets.

The ban on cross-ownership has been in place for 32 years. The new rule applies to the nation's 20 largest media markets but it could be extended to companies in smaller markets if they produce at least seven more hours of local news and prove they need to own newspapers to stay in business.

Democrats on the FCC and members of both parties in Congress argued that Martin was rushing to allow more media consolidation without giving the public enough time to comment on the proposal.

Martin faced an angry Seattle crowd at a public meeting in November that was announced only a week ahead of time. Many objected to Martin's proposal because of a lack of local and minority programming.

Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps, who voted against the plan, fears that further media consolidation would limit options for consumers; he is also concerned about the economic effect.

"In this era of consolidation in so many industries, isn't cutting jobs about the first thing a merged entity almost always does so it can show Wall Street it is really serious about cutting costs and polishing up the next quarterly report?" said Copps. "These job losses are the result of consolidation. And more consolidation will mean more lost jobs."

The new regulation is likely to be challenged in court by public interest and media watchdog groups.