FCC suppressed media consolidation studies

Two Federal Communications Commission (FCC) studies into the effects of media consolidation were shelved and only came to light in the last week when a copies were leaked to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). A 2004 study that showed locally owned television stations provide more local news than others was ordered destroyed by FCC officials, according to a former FCC lawyer. Adam Candeub, who worked for the agency when the report was written, told the Associated Press last week that managers told employees to destroy "every last piece" of the report. "The whole project was just stopped–end of discussion," he said. Candeub was a lawyer in the FCC's Media Bureau at the time the report was written and communicated frequently with its authors, he said. The study's figures, based on a review of 4,000 news stories broadcast from 60 stations in 1998, indicated that locally owned stations deliver nearly six minutes more of total news and almost five-and-a-half more minutes of local news in a 30-minute newscast than stations with non-local owners. This adds up to 33 more hours of local news a year. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. At the time, the agency pointed to evidence that "commonly owned television stations are more likely to carry local news than other stations." The report was initiated after then-chairman Michael Powell ordered the creation of a task force to study localism in broadcasting. Powell denied any knowledge of the report or responsibility for its suppression. The study was publicly revealed by Boxer during FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's confirmation hearing on Sept. 12. Natalie Ravitz, a spokesperson for Boxer, told the Associated Press the senator received a copy of the report "indirectly from someone within the FCC who believed the information should be made public." Boxer released the second report, apparently prepared in 2003, on Sept. 18. That report, entitled "Review of the Radio Industry," analyzed the impact of deregulation in the radio industry. The report states that from March 1996 through March 2003, the number of commercial radio stations on the air rose 5.9 percent while the number of station owners fell 35 percent. The intense concentration of ownership followed a 1996 rewrite of telecommunications law that eliminated a 40-station national ownership cap. The report was never made public, nor have any similar analyses followed, despite the fact that radio industry reports were released in 1998, 2001 and 2002, Boxer said. In a letter sent to Martin, Boxer asked that the agency "examine whether it was then or is now the practice of the FCC to suppress facts that are contrary to a desired outcome." Martin has ordered the agency's inspector general to investigate why the draft reports on television and radio ownership never saw the light of day until now. Martin, approved for another five-year term on Sept. 19 by the Senate Commerce Committee, said he and his staff had not seen the reports. "I want to assure you that I, too, am concerned about what happened to these two draft reports," Martin said in a letter sent to Boxer. In 2003, the FCC voted to loosen rules in virtually all areas of media ownership, including cross-ownership limits on radio and television stations. The decision sparked a backlash among the public and within Congress. Most of the rules the commission voted on were thrown out in 2004 by a federal appeals court. While the FCC did not appeal the decision, the agency announced in June the start of a new review of media ownership, including a "series of public hearings on media ownership issues at diverse locations across the nation." That review is still ongoing. On Sept. 18, the FCC extended the period allowed for public comment on the ownership proceeding by a month, from Sept. 22 to Oct. 23.