FCC Broadcast Ownership Report Uses Old Data, Say Starks and Others
The FCC’s latest broadcast ownership data shows falling minority and female ownership in 2017 and is already 3 years old, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and groups opposed to media consolidation, about Friday’s report. “To effectively address the lack of media ownership diversity, we cannot use stale data and must get better at assessing the extent of the problem in a timely manner,” Starks said. “While supposedly the FCC improved data collection in 2016, the data released today is from 2017,” said Cheryl Leanza, the United Church of Christ Communications Office attorney who successfully represented Prometheus Radio Project and other petitioners before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the most recent FCC media ownership case. The data “is out of date upon release,” Leanza said.
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The FCC is expected to appeal the 3rd Circuit decision to the U.S. Supreme Court (see 2001300042). Justice Samuel Alito granted U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco an extension Wednesday until March 19 to petition for certiorari. “The Solicitor General has not yet determined whether to file a petition for a writ of certiorari,” said the extension request. “The additional time sought in this application is needed to continue consultation with the Commission and with other components of the Department of Justice.” Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell tweeted Friday blasting the 3rd Circuit’s decision and backing an appeal. “I hope the FCC & @TheJusticeDept appeal the 3rd Cir’s miscarriage to @Scotus. #freedom,” he said.
The volume of information collected from 2017 “was approximately twice the size” of prior years because it included noncommercial stations for the first time, an FCC spokesperson emailed. That complicated the agency’s task, the spokesperson said. The agency has taken “decisive action” under Chairman Ajit Pai to promote broadcast ownership diversity by creating an incubator program subsequently struck down by the 3rd Circuit, said the spokesperson: “It’s extremely unfortunate that the Third Circuit vacated that program without any explanation.” The agency has improved the compilation of the 2017 data, upgrading the ownership forms and the license and management system to “ensure the efficient operation of the recently concluded 2019 filing window,” the spokesperson said.
“The time that it has taken to generate a report that shows the downward spiral in diverse media ownership is not surprising,” emailed Nicol Turner-Lee, a fellow at the Center for Technological Innovation and a member of the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. “We live in a period where embracing the range of voices from people of color is not on anyone's priority list.” When diverse voices aren’t represented in media, “people of color lose and so does all of society who will never benefit from hearing their perspectives,” she said.
The data tally is collected from Form 323 ownership filings submitted by licensees. “Results ultimately rely on the accuracy and completeness of those filings,” the document said. The data in the report depicts broadcast ownership as of Oct. 1, 2017, while the last report’s filing cycle ended in 2015. “The FCC just finished collecting the most recent data from 2019 a few weeks ago,” Leanza said.
The Multicultural Media,Telecom and Internet Council, League of United Latin American Citizens and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters didn’t comment.
The details show “no minority group is better off” on ownership of full-power broadcast stations than it was in 2015, Starks said. African Americans owned 12 full-power stations in 2015, and the same in 2017, Starks said, calling the lack of change “striking -- but not surprising.” The report shows ownership of full-power stations declining to 5.3 percent for women, from 7.4 percent in 2015, and to 4.2 percent, from 4.3 percent in 2015, for Latinos. African Americans owned less than 1 percent of full-power broadcast stations in both the 2015 and 2017 reports. “An anemic figure,” Starks said.
“The FCC’s own report shows what happens when this issue is neglected year after year,” said Free Press Policy Manager Dana Floberg. “The Trump FCC has shown a profound indifference to this issue.” A lack of ownership diversity in broadcasting is important because the medium reaches nearly 90 percent of people in the U.S., Floberg said. “We need comprehensive reforms to remedy the historical discrimination that continues to block women and people of color from becoming station owners.”
NAB "is committed to broadcast ownership diversity for women and people of color," emailed a spokesperson, citing the trade group's broadcast leadership training program. "We also support legislation reinstating the minority tax certificate program that fostered a 550 percent increase in minority owners of broadcast stations," the spokesperson said. "Our goal is to have broadcast station owners better reflect the changing demographics of America.”
The lack of improvement in ownership diversity shows the agency should follow the 3rd Circuit’s directive to collect data on effects of ownership rules, Starks said: “We have much work to do. It starts with us fulfilling our direct order from the Third Circuit to implement a data program that would help understand the impact of our regulatory efforts.”