FCC to Probe Discarded Studies; Group Seeks More Data
FCC Chmn. Martin requested an inquiry into 2 discarded reports on media ownership after Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) publicized them in the past week. Late Mon., Boxer’s office wrote Martin about a 2nd Media Bureau document she received that hadn’t been publicized. It found that the number of radio station owners fell 35% 1996-2003, after the Telecom Act lifted national radio ownership limits. Boxer unveiled the first report last week at a hearing on Martin’s renomination, approved Tues. by the Senate Commerce Committee (see separate note).
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Meanwhile, advocates for the deaf criticized what one called a lack of ’transparency’ in a separate Commission action that wasn’t publicized. Deaf and hard of hearing TV viewers didn’t get a chance to comment on hundreds of letters waiving closed-captioning TV rules, advocates told us.
Martin posted the media study on the FCC’s website early Tues., as he had with the first report on local TV news (CD Sept 19 p8). The latest study to be unveiled will be included in the Commission’s broadcast ownership review, Martin wrote Boxer: “I will ask that the staff update it with the most recent industry data and release it publicly prior to the conclusion of the media ownership proceeding.”
Martin said he asked the FCC inspector general to investigate “what happened to these draft documents” and promised his cooperation. Such an investigation is the first of its type in recent memory, said George Washington U. Prof. Christopher Sterling, an 8th floor staffer in the early 1980s. The inspector will issue a report when the investigation is finished and refer any crimes it suspects to DoJ, Sterling said.
“This sort of thing has happened before,” Sterling said: “What I do not remember is reports that disappeared for whatever reason suddenly appearing in the hands of someone on the Hill.” Michael Powell, FCC chmn. when the 2 reports were written, had nothing to do with quashing them, he said in a written statement: “I was unaware of this unpublished report -- such reports are commonplace at the FCC.” Powell said he wouldn’t “tolerate killing a report,” and the broadcast rulemaking he oversaw had “ample evidence put on the public record supporting and opposing every conceivable point of view.”
More unpublished FCC reports may yet turn up, said current and former agency officials. Georgetown U.’s Institute for Public Representation (IPR) is trying to obtain a radio study they said wasn’t published. IPR attorney Angela Campbell said she made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request Aug. 10 for data that an FCC contractor may have compiled that wasn’t publicized. The FCC had sought a contractor to do the study through a notice that said: “The solicitation is to monitor the localism content of a sampling of radio stations nationwide.”
That study cost more than $300,000, said current and former FCC staffers. It’s similar to the quashed study on TV ownership in its examination of radio content, said a former Commission official. Asked about the document request, an FCC spokesman said: “We'll respond to the FOIA request as we respond to all FOIA requests.”
Activists who oppose broadcast deregulation planned to release a study on minority and female TV station ownership today (Wed.) in a teleconference with Comrs. Adelstein and Copps. The Free Press study’s conclusions are similar to other recent data showing women, African-Americans and other minority groups are underrepresented among broadcasters. Women own 5% of TV stations, and minorities hold 3.3%, Free Press said: “While the level of female and minority ownership has advanced in other sectors since the late 1990s, it has worsened in the broadcast industry.”
Deaf Advocates Criticize Captioning Waivers
The FCC drew heat for a separate decision not to publicize letters lifting closed captioning rules (CD Sept 19 p10). The letters gave waivers to religious and other smaller programmers. A top Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) official told National Assn. of the Deaf’s Rosaline Crawford that the office last week mailed 288 letters to nonprofit programmers waiving requirements, she told us.
The CGB official described the programmers to Crawford as having “a shoestring budget,” she said. They were allowed to escape FCC rules because they faced an “undue burden” in captioning programming, she added. The official who spoke to Crawford wouldn’t speak with us; a bureau spokeswoman wouldn’t comment. CGB last week released an order letting Anglers for Christ Ministries and New Beginning Ministries escape closed captioning rules for one program each. “We find that undue burden exemptions from the Commission’s closed captioning requirements are appropriate for the petitioning video programming owners’ programming,” CGB Chief Monica Desai wrote in the order (CD Sept 14 p17).
Deaf and hard of hearing advocates said they were upset the public couldn’t comment on the waivers before they were granted. “We didn’t have a real opportunity to comment at all,” Crawford said: “To learn that hundreds have been approved, it’s a process that certainly doesn’t follow the steps outlined in the [FCC] rules.” Another activist agreed. “An FCC procedure that is usually transparent [didn’t give people] impacted by it… a chance to react,” Brenda Battat, assoc. exec. dir-Hearing Loss Assn. of America (HLAA), said: “This sets precedent that other TV programs may then expect to have waivers granted.”
Advocates want to deluge FCC officials with e-mails protesting the waivers. HLAA advised members to e-mail and call Martin, Desai and the 4 commissioners to share their concern, it said in an “action alert.” It added: “Thousands of calls and e-mails should be sent.”