Media Diversity Takes Center Stage in Chicago
When the FCC comes to Chicago next week it will shine a national spotlight on a community where minority owners have been pushed off the airwaves by big media consolidation. The Sept. 20 hearing will be held at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters on Chicago’s South Side. With a focus on minority ownership, the hearing will offer Chicago residents a rare opportunity to voice concerns to all five FCC commissioners about the nation’s lack of diverse media owners.
“Media ownership should look like America, but instead we have too few, owning too much at the expense of too many,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. “It’s time to reverse the poor policy decisions that have shut out the public from our airwaves. We are honored that the FCC chose to hold this hearing at Rainbow PUSH and welcome all of Chicago’s diverse communities to join us in speaking out at this important event.”
Chicago has one of the lowest levels of minority ownership among markets of its size and diversity. Research conducted by Free Press found that racial and ethnic minorities make up nearly two-thirds of Chicago’s population but own only 5 percent of the city’s full-power commercial radio and TV stations. Despite comprising half of the population, women own just 6 percent of the city’s radio and TV stations.
“Without the First Amendment, and the ability to bring vivid images into the living rooms of America, there would be no civil rights movement,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. “But today’s civil rights movement also depends on the existence of media that is fully representative of the communities that it serves. Unfortunately, the struggle for a media system that truly reflects our nation’s diversity remains an elusive goal.”
The lack of minority and female owners is reflected in local news coverage. A recent study by the Media Management Center at Northwestern University found that “for every non-white person who is heard in a story, there are three white people” and “people who are white, male and official dominate news about politics.” Women are outnumbered by men on the local news by 2-to-1.
At the national level, the low number of female and minority owners is equally alarming. People of color make up 33 percent of the entire U.S. population, yet own 7.2 percent of all full-power radio and TV stations. While women comprise 51 percent of the entire U.S. population, they own less than 6 percent of full-power commercial radio and TV stations.
“The disgraceful lack of media diversity is the direct result of policies that have allowed big companies to swallow up local media outlets in Chicago and across the country,” said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press and author of two landmark media ownership studies — Out of the Picture and Off the Dial. “It’s time for the FCC to roll back consolidation and get more local and diverse voices on the air.”
