Statement of FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps on Broadcast Localism
In 2003, the FCC voted to relax ownership rules, paving the way for increased media consolidation.  In 2004, the courts rejected these rules.  The FCC then announced a Notice of Inquiry to investigate further.  The following is an excerpt of Commissioner Copps' dissenting opinion arguing that the issues are clear, and it is time for action.

[July 1, 2004]

From the earliest days of broadcasting, we have obligated licensees to serve the needs and interests of their local communities.  The principle of localism is at the heart of the public interest.  I support the Commission’s renewed interest in promoting localism, although we should have examined these issues prior to loosening our media concentration protections, not after those rules were gutted.  

During the hearings and forums on media ownership that Commissioner Adelstein and I attended across the country, we heard time and again from citizens about the detrimental impact that consolidation has already had on localism and diversity and we heard their fears about where still more concentration will lead.   Localism is one of the fundamental goals of our ownership rules and of the public interest.  I believe that it is impossible to divorce localism from ownership.  With the consolidation genie out of the bottle, it will be too late then to stem the tide.  

Enhancing political and civic discourse:   From 1996 to 2000, coverage of the Presidential race on the network evening news dropped by one-third.  The average Presidential candidate sound bite in 2000 was 8 to 9 seconds.  Local newscasts fared no better.  In the 2002 election, over half of the evening local newscasts contained no campaign coverage at all.  What coverage there is tends to focus inordinately on the latest tracking polls and handicapping the horse race rather than on the serious issues the nation needs to be discussing.  And when you get down to the Congressional and local races, the situation is even more dismal.  We also see less public affairs programming.  One survey found less than one half of one percent of programming is devoted to local public affairs.  We have studies.  We have comments.  We don’t have action.

Community-responsive programming and License Renewals:  Broadcast stations have an obligation to air programming responsive to the needs and interests of their communities of license…As one part of the effort to ensure that licensees are serving their local communities, we desperately need to establish an effective license renewal process under which the Commission would once again actually consider the manner in which a station has served the public interest when it comes time to renew its license.  One thing is certain: the current system of postcard renewal for licenses is not serving the public interest.

Communication with Communities: As local stations come under the control of far-away media conglomerates, it is time to move forward and act. ..When the issue is how to hold Big Media accountable to the local communities they serve, we are stuck at the starting gate.  The better part of good government here is to move ahead and act on those matters where we already have compiled a record or where the statute has long since told us to be about our job of protecting the public interest.

(click here to read the entire opinion)

(click here to learn more about localism)