Media Power in Wrong Hands Brings Neither "Peace of Mind nor Serenity of Spirit"

April 16, 2008 In the second of a series of interviews published by the Benton Foundation, Minority Media & Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig asks, "What could be a more inefficient deployment of resources than having the entrepreneurial, managerial and creative wealth of a third of the country unable to find expression in the nation’s most powerful industries?" Honig, who for over 30 years has devoted his life to advocating for greater diversity and minority participation in media and telecommunications, points out that people of color are 34% of the nation’s population, yet they hold only about two percent of the asset value of our nation’s broadcasting industry -- and far less in cable and telecom. This no accident or the result of market forces: for decades, the Federal Communications Commission was an active participant in preventing people of color from working in or attaining ownership of licensed facilities that used the public’s airwaves. The effects are not seen just in ownership, but employment, too. Whereas the Radio-Television News Directors Association finds that just 6.2% of radio journalists are people of color, MMTC dug deeper and found that English language, non-minority owned radio newsrooms employment is just 0.5% minority -- that's about where radio stood in 1950!