MEDIA

Gannett Newspaper Purchase Challenged: A citizens group challenged Gannett Co.’s purchase of five Washington suburban daily newspapers, alleging that the deal violates Federal Communications Commission rules regarding cross-ownership of media outlets within a market. Last week, Gannett completed its acquisition of the Journal newspapers, 10 weeklies, a data processing unit and a printing plant from Times Journal Co. of Springfield, Va. Gannett, based in Arlington, Va., also owns WUSA-TV in Washington. Federal law bars companies from owning newspapers and broadcasting outlets in the same market.