FCC commits to documenting precise level of media (ownership) diversity

By Joe Torres
Guest Contributor

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission finally took a major step toward accurately assessing the number of broadcast stations owned by people of color and women in this country.

This is a critical — and long overdue — boost for U.S. media diversity. The FCC is revamping a broadcast ownership form to include much greater detail on the racial and ethnic makeup of station owners. Broadcast stations must submit the form to the commission every two years.

A few tweaks to a form may not sound like a big deal, but it is. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details.

In 2006 and 2007, Free Press released two studies — Out of the Picture and Off the Dial — on the state of minority and female ownership of TV and radio stations. In the process of conducting these studies, we learned that the commission had collected inaccurate date on minority and female ownership since 1998. Many stations had filled out their ownership forms incorrectly – omitting key diversity data — but the FCC had failed to monitor or verify the accuracy of the submitted information. Instead, the agency released ownership figures that were simply wrong.

In conducting our own research, Free Press took a different tack. Prior to publishing our reports, we verified the ownership figures for every broadcast station in the United States, with the result that our reports are widely believed to include the most accurate ownership figures compiled to date.

Free Press research found that people of color make up 33 percent of the U.S. population, but own just 7 percent of all radio and TV stations. Women own just 6 percent of all outlets, despite making up 51 percent of the population.

In addition, the reports concluded that people of color own more stations in less concentrated markets and that the number of minority-owned stations has declined because of media consolidation.

Yet even after the publication of the Free Press reports, the FCC once again released inaccurate data in 2007 when it considered allowing for greater consolidation of our country’s media outlets. In fact, the agency-sponsored studies failed to identify 69 percent of all minority TV owners and 75 percent of female owners.

That’s just unacceptable. It is simply outrageous that a government agency with a public mandate would continue to adopt critical broadcast regulations without having accurate data to determine the impact of its rule changes on minority and female ownership.

“The sad truth is that we simply do not know the precise state of minority and female ownership in this country,” said FCC Acting Chairman Michael Copps. “The official term for it is, ‘We don’t have a clue.’  We will never get to where we need to go unless we know where we are.  Try getting driving directions on MapQuest without entering a starting location and you’ll see what I mean.”

Last week’s action by the Copps-led FCC will help to ensure the commission and the public have the right directions to bolster minority and female media ownership.

Joe Torres is government relations manager for Free Press in Washington, DC, a a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media.

Comments

[A real black person]

Talk about blowing things out of proportion. The majority of Americans are white. It's no surprise that they dominate roles of leadership. White men? Big surprise. It must have nothing to do with the fact that roles of leadership require aggression which is encouraged more in men than women.

It's not as if CEO positions are a source of economic empowerment for African Americans and other "minorities". It's difficult to start a media company these days. Advertising is drying up. Frankly, put, it's not a source of economic growth or opportunity.

Women are doing quite well these days, actually. Women outnumber men in higher education. The postindustrial economy tends to favor wome, with its emphasis on interpersonal skills.

You should be more concerned with the lack of minorities in science and math related fields without pointing to white men for underfunding public schools.