FCC staffers sometimes junk reports when they think the conclusio...
FCC staffers sometimes junk reports when they think the conclusions don’t fit commissioners’ policy goals, said former Media Bureau staffer Adam Candeub, who made news when he told reporters such a report on local TV news was discarded. He…
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was among bureau employees told to return their copies of the 2004 study to supervisors, Candeub told us late Thurs. He can’t recall who asked him for his copy of the paper, by Keith Brown and Peter Alexander, he said. Alexander, now at the International Bureau, didn’t return a call. Brown, no longer at the FCC, couldn’t be located. “This happens at the FCC a lot,” said Candeub, now a Mich. State U. law prof., calling hoopla over the episode “a bit of a dog bites man story.” The report’s conclusion that locally owned TV stations air significantly more news was “striking… It was such a compelling finding,” he added. A copy made its way to Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.), who publicized it Tues. when she asked Chmn. Martin about it at his renomination hearing. She wrote Wed. asking Martin why the report wasn’t made public (CD Sept 15 p10). In response, Martin wrote her: “It is unclear why this report was never released to the public. I am attempting to determine why, but the senior management of the Media Bureau and the Chairman of the Commission at the time are no longer at the Commission.” Media activists including Consumers Union and Media Access Project sent a separate letter asking Martin to request “an independent investigation through the Office of the Inspector General.” The FCC is reviewing the media activists’ letter and hasn’t decided whether to refer the matter to the Inspector Gen., an agency official told us. Michael Powell, FCC chmn. when the report is said to have been junked, denied having a hand in the action. “He had never seen the report. He had never heard of the report until [Thurs.] and had certainly never ordered it destroyed,” Powell’s aide said from a statement written because his boss was traveling.