Chairman Martin Failing to Deal with Minority Ownership
What will it take for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to deal with the crisis in minority ownership?
Despite repeated requests from civil rights groups and congressional leaders, and despite pending legislation to address the issue, the Chairman continues to ignore all calls to slow down to address the crisis. Instead, he is pushing ahead with a vote today to lift the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule that will result in greater media consolidation, effectively placing the future of minority ownership in greater jeopardy.
Last Friday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) called on Martin to deal with minority ownership and to postpone the Dec. 18 vote because of the harm the proposed rule change would cause minority owners:
But many are concerned that Martin will define too broadly the type of companies that will benefit from the rules to aid minority owners. Groups have asked him to use a small and disadvantaged business (SDB) definition to be eligible to benefit from the new rules. But Martin reportedly refuses. Instead, he plans to adopt the broader small business definition would actually harm minority owners.
This is precisely the reason why the Chairman must postpone the vote. His cross-ownership plan would harm minority owners, and his support for rules that claim to boost minority ownership are nothing more than an attempt to deflect the political pressure.
Communities of color deserve better from commissioners who are suppose to represent the public interest. But Dec. 18 may turn out to be a day in which their public interest concerns were betrayed once again.
