Media Diversity Research Sought by Copps Aide, FCC OCBO Chief
It makes sense for the FCC to research the diversity of media ownership because a rule targeted at women and people of color was sent back to the agency, officials said Friday. The head of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities and an aide to Commissioner Michael Copps said the agency may have to do more research in light of July’s remand of media ownership rules. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia sent back an eligible entity rule, and OCBO Director Thomas Reed said his office is working on the issue. Joshua Cinelli of Copps’ office said his boss hopes there will be more studies than the 11 the agency already has done for its current ownership review, with at least one on diversity.
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The commission soon will finalize membership on its diversity committee, after some delays in the vetting process of candidates because so many expressed interest, said Reed and Jessica Almond, an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. They spoke at a conference sponsored by the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters. Industry panelists said Arbitron is doing a good job addressing the concerns of radio stations serving minorities, many owned by small companies, that their listenership levels be accurately measured by portable devices.
The remand of some diversity rules is “something my office is particularly concerned with, because we have to go back to the drawing board,” Reed said: He and FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd “have been looking at that carefully” and “we certainly will be looking at this current round of studies to see how well they answer the questions posed by the 3rd Circuit.” Because the Media Bureau suspended some construction permit extensions (CD July 26 p12) granted under the now-remanded rule, “we have a hole that needs to be filled,” and “until we come up with something else,” there will be a “gap,” Reed said. The ownership studies “focus a lot” on the structures of geographic media markets and of ownership of media assets, “but there isn’t a lot on diversity,” so he'll see “what more needs to be done,” Reed said.
Copps’ office “is a little bit concerned that if we were to say that those studies did meet what they were looking for,” on the 3rd Circuit’s ruling, that might not be enough, Cinelli said. Reed said he generally agreed with Cinelli’s comments. Diversity studies need “to become a full-throated priority of the commission, and it needs to happen fast, if we are going to be able to be responsive,” Cinelli said. The agency spent about $1 million on the studies, and “money is always a concern,” Almond said of the potential for funds for more research. “The budget is a big constraint, and if we have a reduction in our budget,” some reprioritizing may be needed, she said.
The Diversity Federal Advisory Committee “is being reconstituted,” Reed said: “There should be a public notice out very shortly” naming committee members. NABOB President Jim Winston, put on the spot at the conference, agreed he'd accept the FCC’s invitation and rejoin the panel. He said the commission needs to complete studies that have long been in the works but never completed on how the agency can respond to the Adarand Supreme Court’s 1995 decision applying strict constitutional scrutiny to rules aimed at particular groups. There’s been “a sense of frustration that we churn out reports, that we churn out proposals, and nothing happens” among some on the committee, he said: “After all these years, we are somewhat concerned that these efforts are in vain.” At a Minority Media and Telecom Council conference in July, Commissioner Robert McDowell had said the FCC should stop dragging its feet on naming members to the committee, reconstituted in January. The commission must “wait for responses” to the committee invites it sends out before finalizing membership, Almond said. FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus had said at the MMTC meeting that invites were to have gone out in August (CD July 25 p6).
Arbitron has done constructive work with minority-targeted radio stations that had complained to the FCC about the methodology of the company’s Portable People Meters, said Winston and broadcast lawyer David Pawlik of Skadden Arps. Winston said that some think ratings are the “gospel,” when they're really estimates. A company spokeswoman had no comment. It’s a good sign that Arbitron has been sending seven or eight top executives to meetings with the PPM Coalition, said Pawlik, whose firm represented that group of radio stations. “Everyone who attends those meetings is comforted that Arbitron is moving in the right direction” though they all wish “all of our issues were solved already,” he said. “They're obviously not -- but we're moving in the right direction.”