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Benton Study Finds That Commercial Broadcasters Fail to Provide Communities With Local Public Affairs Programming

Benton Calls on FCC to Adopt
Viewers Bill of Rights

Download the Report: http://www.benton.org/publibrary/television/lpa.pdf

The report also underscores that competitive conditions, market demographics, and station characteristics had no significant effect on the quantity of local public affairs programming provided by individual broadcast stations. Since the market is not meeting the needs of the viewing public, Benton urges the Federal Communications Commission to begin a formal, public rulemaking to define the public interest obligations of digital television broadcasters as part of its comments filed at the Commission.

"Broadcasters' abysmal performance providing coverage of issues of local concern exemplifies the need for a rulemaking to clearly define their obligations," said Charles Benton, Chairman of the Benton Foundation, who served on the President's Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. "The Commission should begin that proceeding now and base the next generation of public interest obligations on a collection of principles that recognize the rights of viewers in American broadcasting."

The results of the study underwrite the need for the FCC to move forward with a formal proceeding: Within the 24 markets studied during the two-week period, there was an average of 6.52 hours of local public affairs programming per market and an average of 1.1 hours per commercial station. 0.3 percent of the total commercial broadcast time within these markets was devoted to local public affairs programming. 1.06 percent of the total commercial broadcast time within the studied markets was devoted to local and non-local public affairs programming. Competitive conditions, market demographics, and station characteristics had no significant effect on the quantity of local public affairs programming provided by individual broadcast stations. Benton suggests that the FCC should adopt a set of principles - the Viewers' Bill of Rights - on which to base the proceeding. The Viewers' Bill of Rights recognizes that, per a 1969 Supreme Court ruling, the rights of viewers are paramount in American broadcast regulation and that our traditional commitment to localism must be respected. Programming must be accessible to all Americans and should serve the needs of children, education, democracy, and diversity. Broadcasters should adhere to guidelines on the treatment of news, public events, emergencies, and controversial issues. Broadcasters should be required to disclose their public interest activity to their communities and to regulators. And, when broadcasters do not provide programming in the public interest, they should be required to pay spectrum fees as other users of the airwaves do. This "play or pay" model has already been embraced by Congress and the FCC concerning ancillary services offered by digital broadcasters.

Benton's filing is available online ( www.benton.org/publibrary/television/noi.html).

Since 1981, Benton has worked to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications. Through its projects, the foundation seeks to shape the emerging communications environment in the public interest. Bridging the worlds of philanthropy, public policy and community action, Benton demonstrates and promotes the use of digital media to engage, equip and connect people to solve social problems. Benton's Communications Policy Project is a nonpartisan initiative to strengthen public interest efforts in shaping the emerging communications environment.

Benton was chosen to serve as the home of the Advisory Committee legacy, acting as the institutional memory and tracking the debate on and progress of the Advisory Committee's report and recommendations. The work of the Advisory Committee is just one step in the greatest transformation in television's history. Benton's PIAC Legacy Project ( www.benton.org/publibrary/piac) is the online home for the recommendations of the Advisory Committee as well as a convenient nexus for tracking reaction to the proposals, implementation by the Commission and the Congress, and private efforts to realize the Committee's goals. In this capacity, Benton has convened a number of meetings to involve new players in the debate over the future of television.

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Last updated: 27 March 2000