Form 323 Data Not Sufficient, Says Public Interest Attorney
The FCC report on its collected Form 323 demographic data was released late and will be of limited usefulness (see 1705100076), said lawyer/adviser Cheryl Leanza of the United Church of Christ. Public interest groups such as UCC and the Hispanic Media Coalition wanted the data from the report to inform broadcast regulation decisions made during the previous 2014 quadrennial review, but the data -- on ownership information in 2015 -- wasn’t released until Wednesday. Even with the data, high numbers of stations that don’t turn in the information make it difficult to draw conclusions, Leanza said. Chairman Ajit Pai should improve collection and analysis of Form 323 data, Leanza said. Pai “has proclaimed a very strong interest in data and analysis, she said, “If you don’t know why things are happening, how can you decide how to make changes?” she said.
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In a 2016 statement on a rulemaking to improve the Form 323 process, Pai expressed skepticism about the process, dissenting in part and approving in part. “Better data may well help” the FCC promote more diverse ownership, Pai said. “But too much effort has been spent diving down rabbit holes that ultimately won’t help us accomplish much of anything.”
The ownership data "has been continuously available" to researchers, academics and the public since the filing window closed in 2015, a Media Bureau spokeswoman emailed. "To assist in doing that, the Bureau has hosted workshops to instruct the public on the availability and utility of this data."
Leanza said the forms show “things are bad” for diversity. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn agrees, citing the report’s “disheartening” statistics, in a speech at the California Women’s Conference Thursday. “Women own just 8.6 percent of the 11,919 broadcast stations in this country,” Clyburn said. “Men dominate every single media platform, from television and film, to radio, newspapers and online sources.” The report shows racial minority ownership to be a very small sector of broadcasting, with whites owning a majority of the voting interests in 9,515 broadcast stations, compared with racial minorities owning 402 broadcast stations.
The FCC should do more to ensure stations respond to the Form 323 data collection, Leanza said. “It’s supposed to be a census.” Stations with the highest rates of nonresponsiveness to the data collection are the most inexpensive licensees, such as AM and low-power TV -- those most likely to be owned by women and minorities, she said. “Stations that did not file ownership reports, stations that filed insufficient data, as well as stations that are not included in the specific ownership category are not included in these calculations,” the 2017 biennial report said.
Submitting Form 323 and its data can be burdensome to broadcasters, said Fletcher Heald broadcast lawyer Frank Jazzo. Providing such data for large multitiered companies is complicated, and while smaller broadcasters have an easier task, hiring attorneys to properly do so is more of a strain to their resources, he said. Broadcasters that submit their own 323 filings often do so incorrectly, he said.
The FCC approved measures in 2016 to improve Form 323 data gathering, but since the data in the current report is from 2015, those changes aren’t reflected. “We are in the process of implementing changes to the FCC Forms 323 and 323-E to ensure that they reflect revisions adopted by the Commission,” the report said. “The revised forms will be used by licensees beginning with the 2017 biennial filing window and should simplify the filing process for licensees, which we anticipate will increase the response rate.” The FCC anticipates “that the revised forms will also improve the quality of submitted ownership data and facilitate the Commission’s analysis of that data,” the report said.
The 2015 data is still of use, said Howard University professor Carolyn Byerly. It allows creation of reports and presentations that are used to bolster arguments for actions to increase diversity in broadcasting, she said. “The form is the only way to track ownership.”
Lack of diversity in media is “glaring,” Clyburn said. She supported creation of a minority tax credit to fix the problem, and endorsed waiving some ownership restrictions for companies that create an incubator program. She said the Office of Communication and Business Opportunity should be the FCC’s small business ombudsman, to help smaller companies navigate regulations. The commission also should adopt rules to make entry into the industry easier for independent programmers, she said. “I have led the charge to bring these rules to adoption, and will continue to do everything I can to ensure independent voices have a seat at the table when it comes to their carriage by pay-TV providers.”