NAB, MMTC Weigh In on Diversity

NAB, MMTC WEIGH IN ON DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Association of Broadcasters and the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council agreed that the Federal Communications Commission needs to take steps to promote diversity in media ownership but disagreed on whether loosening ownership rules would help or hurt that effort. The two groups agree that: 1) a revival of the tax-certificate policy that gave media companies a tax break if they sold to minorities and women, 2) ownership rules should leave some room for grandfathered groups of stations that exceed numerical caps to be sold "as is" to minorities or women, and 3) a modification of that rule that would allow the sale to a nonminority or female buyer if that buyer agreed to come into compliance with the cap by selling extra stations to minorities or women. But while the NAB argued for voluntary initiatives -- job fairs and education efforts -- the MMTC argued that the FCC should adopt a raft of diversity initiatives, voluntary and mandatory, to address a lack of access to media properties that it calls a "cancer" on the broadcasting industry. It also wants the commission to gauge those initiatives' success before even attempting to make any major changes in media ownership.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6486155.html?rssid=193

* FCC Neglects Media Diversity Crisis (Free Press press release)
Consumer groups slammed the Federal Communications Commission yesterday for its inability to accurately assess the true state of female and minority broadcast ownership. In filed comments, Free Press, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America exposed how the FCC’s official research failed to account for the majority of the female- and minority-owned broadcast stations.
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=279