Draft Item Would Remove Broadcast Correspondence File
Commissioners are seen as likely to approve an industry-supported FCC draft item at their Jan. 31 meeting, the first under a President Donald Trump, that would eliminate the requirement that broadcasters keep hard copy correspondence files accessible to the public in their stations, said industry and agency officials. The action is opposed by public interest groups Free Press and the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC). They said (see 1611180060) eliminating the required hard copy will prevent segments of the public that don't have broadband access from seeing the files of viewer correspondence with broadcasters. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and broadcasters said eliminating the correspondence file will remove the last FCC-mandated requirement that broadcasters allow the public into their stations, allowing them increased security. The draft item would also eliminate a similar requirement for cable headend information.
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O’Rielly inspired the NPRM proposing eliminating the file, Chairman Tom Wheeler said (see 1605250054). O'Rielly and Commissioner Ajit Pai are expected to support it, industry and FCC officials told us. Pai is expected to be chairman, at least on an interim basis, under Trump. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also supported the NPRM on the item as a timely update to the rules. “When was the last time you overheard two friends talking about the location of their cable operator’s headend?” she asked then.
“We knew this was going to be an uphill battle," said NHMC Policy Counsel Carmen Scurato in an interview. Industry officials said all three commissioners as of Jan. 21 support the item, but Scurato said NHMC still believes the file should be retained. “Access to the correspondence folder affords the public with a valuable resource that can be used when filing complaints with the Commission against certain broadcast content,” said NHMC in a meeting last week with an aide to Clyburn, recounted an ex parte filing. Wheeler has said he is stepping down Jan. 20.
The draft contains language that would eliminate the correspondence file, an FCC official said. The NPRM on the proposed rule said direct correspondence is no longer the primary way viewers communicate with stations, and those interactions now largely occur on station's publicly viewable social media accounts. Very few broadcasters have ever had anyone request to view their correspondence file, one broadcast attorney said. Without a correspondence file, such interactions wouldn't be available to viewers who don't have internet access, Scurato said.
The security concerns cited by O’Rielly are a legitimate problem for broadcasters, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford. He said having to allow access to the public leaves stations vulnerable, referencing an April standoff with police at a Baltimore Fox affiliate that began with a man entering the station demanding to put information on the air and ended with police shooting him.
The draft also would eliminate a requirement that information about the location of a cable operator’s principal headend be placed in a physical public file accessible to the public. The American Cable Association said the eliminated rule could be replaced with other burdens. “What concerns ACA and these members is the prospect that the Commission would eliminate the current rule, which imposes virtually no direct costs on operators, and replace it with a new and different requirement,” ACA said in an ex parte filing.