FCC Ignores Lack of Local TV Coverage
Broadcasters can rest easy and not worry about covering local elections in Chicago and Milwaukee thanks to an FCC decision released last week.
Two public interest groups, Chicago Media Action (CMA) and the Milwaukee Public Interest Media Coalition, had appealed to the FCC to reject the license renewals of these TV stations. The Commission ruled that the groups did not prove that the stations were operating in “bad faith.”
But the FCC didn’t address serious allegations that broadcasters are not living up to their public interest obligations. The CMA’s research showed that during the 2004 election campaign, all of Chicago’s full-power TV stations “failed to present adequate programming relating to state and local elections.” In the month leading up to the federal election, five stations dedicated less than 1 percent of their stories to local election coverage.
It’s not just local election coverage that gets purged from newscasts, and it’s not just happening in these two towns. Across the nation, and to the detriment of our civic participation, broadcasters are devoting less air time to local news stories. Why? Most TV station owners are far removed from the local communities where they’re broadcasting, giving them little incentive to invest in local, on-the-ground reporting.
But if you thought newscasts about local candidates running for office were elusive now, it could get much worse unless we stop media consolidation. The FCC last December voted to further gut media ownership limits and let a few giant corporations swallow up more local outlets.
The Senate has already voted to reject this rule, and now it’s up to the House to do the same. And it’s also up to you. Act today to stop media consolidation in its tracks, so we can begin to give our local elections the coverage and scrutiny they deserve.
