Hispanic Activists Seek Increased FCC Efforts in Hiring, Which They Call Lacking

That the FCC doesn’t much use interns, unlike other federal agencies that do a “good job” hiring them, means the commission has “no base on which to draw potential candidates for employment,” said Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities Vice President of Government Relations Gumecindo Salas. “You might want to consider that a real shortcoming on your part.” A commission staffer responded that the agency is working on implementing the federal government’s Pathways initiative that’s targeted at recent college and graduate-school graduates (http://xrl.us/bnsccx). The agency wants to “get that word out there, and then hopefully we can bring in some of your talent ... to feed our pipeline,” she said.

A harder-to-solve problem than the lack of inclusion of minorities is that so few commission managers and bureau and office chiefs are Hispanics, said CEO Rafael Fantauzzi of the National Puerto Rican Coalition. Low employment at agencies like the FCC of Hispanics “embarrasses us as the Hispanic community, and it should embarrass the federal government,” he said. It’s “fine and dandy” to talk about inclusion efforts, but “you have to do the work” and the groups whose representatives attended the meeting want to help, Fantauzzi said. “The challenge is not that Hispanics are not applying ... the challenge is that Hispanics are not being hired, or being retained,” he said. “We want to have a conversation about Hispanic inclusion in the FCC and other agencies."

"We've been very aggressive in ensuring that the interests of small and minority-owned businesses are reflected in our actions every day,” said Gil de Jesus, attorney-adviser in the FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities and master of ceremonies for the first part of the event. Other agency events targeted at such firms are part of “working to get Latinos and others into the telecommunications industry,” which has been successful as small businesses are “developing relationships with Comcast, with Google,” de Jesus said. “That is one of the charges that the chairman has ensured that we do,” he said of Genachowski.

So-called hate speech against Latinos aired on broadcast media, the low portion of radio and TV stations that are owned by Hispanics, and lower rates of home broadband subscriptions among that demographic than others in the U.S. were discussed by panelists Tuesday. “Too many Americans lack the vital Internet connection” and need it to fill out college and job applications, said former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani. “Hispanics are also enthusiastic consumers of media,” yet “too often are stereotyped” and “positive images are lacking,” she also said. Rates for buying ads shortly before they air on Spanish-language TV stations are 50-75 percent less than for comparable English-language programming, said NHMC CEO Alex Nogales. Hispanics own 2.6 percent of TV stations, and 60 percent of Latino households have broadband -- less than other groups -- and are more likely to go online using “only a mobile phone,” he said. NHMC doesn’t want rules “that would serve to infringe on anybody’s right to express themselves,” Nogales said. “We also feel strongly that certain types of rhetoric are damaging to us as a society.” The group in January 2009 asked the commission to start an inquiry on hate speech (CD Jan 30/09 p10).

Government has a role to play so that migrant, minority farm workers, “who sometimes leave their homes early in the spring and don’t return home until the fall,” can use iPads so kids who are pulled out of school during the travels can study, Salas said. “We've missed a great opportunity to learn,” as the federal government has “refused to invest in that,” he said. Broadband transmission speed at schools “is sometimes less than may be desired,” so technological developments “may be growing at a faster clip” than speeds, said Executive Director David Ferreira of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. “There are a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of challenges.” Joseph Torres, representing Free Press and other groups, asked the FCC not to complete the quadrennial review of media ownership before addressing minority media ownership. The commission is working to address the issue, said Senior Deputy Director Carolyn Williams of the Office of Communications Business Opportunities, citing academics’ work drafting a report under Section 257 of the Telecom Act on barriers to entry.

Staff discussed FCC efforts to boost broadband adoption, including the Connect2Compete initiative of the agency, cable ISPs and other companies. “There are a lot of other cable companies that also are coming out with their programs,” said Associate Chief Keyla Hernandez-Ulloa of the Consumer Affairs & Outreach Division of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). “We also are looking at expanding” such efforts, she said. C2C participants sell broadband for about $10 monthly through to households with a child getting subsidized school lunches because of low income. CGB Acting Chief Kris Monteith replied to Ferreira and Salas that she “couldn’t agree with you more about the critical nature of broadband availability and broadband adoption.” The bureau works “very hard to reach out to our communities” and organizations “to make sure that we are getting the word out” on adoption efforts, she said: “Many of our outreach efforts are Web-based” and so available to people outside the Beltway.

"Nothing is a silver bullet, but” C2C “is an important initiative” to address the issue of the approximately 100 million Americans lacking broadband access at home, Genachowski said shortly after the event’s start. “The cable industry is very engaged” with the initiative, and “a number of community groups are working together” on it, he said. The agency is “tackling with full force the different gaps and challenges that we see around broadband,” on adoption, infrastructure and spectrum, Genachowski said. He hopes to have the quadrennial review order on media ownership rules “out soon,” as “we are working very hard to complete the media ownership proceeding,” he said. “Traditional media continue to serve the millions of Americans who are not connected” to broadband, Genachowski said. “We are fully committed to looking at all aspects of distribution, and having a game plan that moves the country more and more toward our fundamental goals of diversity.”