Broadcasters & Public Interest Obligations
How should broadcasters serve the public interest? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allowed the nation's broadcasters to use the enormous capacity of the public airwaves - estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars - free of charge. In return, broadcasters are required to serve the public interest with programming that, among other things, encourages Americans to take a more active role in our democracy. For decades, broadcasters have been free to define for themselves the meaning of their public interest obligations. As a result, the current public interest obligations are open to interpretation by broadcasters, and the quality and quantity of substantive election and public affairs coverage suffers. Our goals are two fold:
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Encourage the FCC to adopt meaningful and measurable public interest obligations guidelines for broadcasters that include a minimum of (3) hours per week of qualifying local civic or electoral affairs programming on their most-watched channel,
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Hold local broadcasters accountable to local election and public affairs information needs by conducting our "Community-by-Community Campaign to Take Back Your Local TV."
FCC in a Pickle?
The FCC is considering a number of major regulatory issues in the coming months that will have a huge impact on what type of information and programming Americans will have access to via their televisions. Lobbyists for the major networks are working behind the scenes to influence the FCC to pass the 'multicast must-carry" rule that could mean billions for the big networks.
At stake is whether or not cable operators will be forced to carry the increased number of channels broadcasters will have access to when they move from the analog spectrum to digital. Under the current analog system, cable operators are required to carry the major networks' signals free of charge. Why? Because broadcasters insist they are special because they serve the public interest.
But do they? Local TV stations are offering fewer and fewer hours of public affairs coverage of issues of importance to their communities, and do little to give viewers the information they need to be good citizens. In 2002 fewer than half of the TV stations in the top television markets even bothered to cover congressional, local or state elections.
Despite this sorry state of affairs, the FCC has yet to even consider a specific public interest obligation proposal though they have been working on the issue since 1999. We are calling on the FCC to approve minimum quantifiable guidelines for broadcasters addressing their responsibility to offer local public affairs and electoral coverage so that citizens will to become informed about - and involved in - local civic affairs. The FCC should vote on these public interest guidelines before considering the "multicast must-carry" issue and giving broadcasters yet another free ride at the public's expense.