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CWA Members Demand Public Hearings on FCC Changes
At a Capitol Hill news conference July 20, CWA and fellow unions representing half a million media workers joined with members of Congress to call for full public hearings as the Federal Communications Commission reconsiders its rules on media ownership.
Armed with results of a poll of 400 print and broadcast professionals, speakers reiterated fears that growing media consolidation is affecting the quality and diversity of news reporting and access to information.
"Media workers, better than anyone else, understand the dire implications that further consolidation will have on their work and the public's ability to access quality information. The results of this poll point up the need for more outreach by the FCC before the commissioners allow more contraction in the industry," said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley.
In a statement, John Clark, president of NABET-CWA, said, "Our task now is to educate the public and our congressional representatives on how such consolidation could impair the quality and diversity of the media in this country."
In addition to TNG-CWA and NABET-CWA, the poll was commissioned by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Writers Guild of America, East.
The FCC made sweeping changes in media ownership rules last year after holding only one public hearing, generating an outcry from consumers and organizations across the political spectrum. Now a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is forcing the FCC to re-examine its decisions.
The court ruling "presents the (FCC) with a belated opportunity to do what it was unwilling to do before, namely to seek broad-based public input where the impact of such regulatory changes will be felt the most-local media markets. That is precisely where our members work and where consumers get the bulk of their news, information and entertainment," the media unions said in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), David Price (D-N.C.) and Diane Watson (D-Calif.) have been leading the fight to overturn the new FCC rules in Congress.
Hinchey and the other members have sponsored the Media Ownership Reform Act of 2004 (HR 4069), to restore fairness in broadcasting, reduce media concentration and ensure that broadcasters meet public interest requirements.
The two members of the five-member FCC who opposed the ownership changes were also on hand for the press conference and joined in calling for public hearings. "Let's insist this time that our colleagues on the commission include the American people in the process instead of shutting them out like they did last time," said Commissioner Michael Copps, joined by Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
So far, Copps and Adelstein are the only commissioners listening. On Wednesday night, they were the only FCC members to attend a hearing on media ownership in Monterey, Calif., that drew more than 500 people. The line of those who wanted to speak stretched outside the city's convention center.
The poll of media workers, conducted by a Washington, D.C. research group, shows that journalists are extremely concerned about media consolidation undermining news quality and credibility.
"This scientific poll confirms what AFTRA has asserted... that media ownership consolidation is doing irreparable harm to local and national news coverage and thus to a key fabric of democracy in our country. Even as the literal number of entertainment, news and information outlets increases, actual decision-making, including news judgment, is falling into fewer and fewer hands," AFTRA President John Connolly said.
Mona Mangan, executive director of the Writers Guild, East, said the poll is a "wake up call" that the "FCC must stop catering to the interests of media conglomerates and focus on what is in the best interest of the public."
Among the poll's findings, nearly eight out of ten respondents said consolidation has lowered journalism standards, with 83 percent saying the most serious problem facing the industry is too much emphasis on the bottom line. Many of those surveyed cited understaffing (73 percent) and lack of time and resources to do a professional job (68 percent) as trends threatening quality news reporting today. More than half said employee morale is getting worse.
Armed with results of a poll of 400 print and broadcast professionals, speakers reiterated fears that growing media consolidation is affecting the quality and diversity of news reporting and access to information.
"Media workers, better than anyone else, understand the dire implications that further consolidation will have on their work and the public's ability to access quality information. The results of this poll point up the need for more outreach by the FCC before the commissioners allow more contraction in the industry," said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley.
In a statement, John Clark, president of NABET-CWA, said, "Our task now is to educate the public and our congressional representatives on how such consolidation could impair the quality and diversity of the media in this country."
In addition to TNG-CWA and NABET-CWA, the poll was commissioned by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Writers Guild of America, East.
The FCC made sweeping changes in media ownership rules last year after holding only one public hearing, generating an outcry from consumers and organizations across the political spectrum. Now a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is forcing the FCC to re-examine its decisions.
The court ruling "presents the (FCC) with a belated opportunity to do what it was unwilling to do before, namely to seek broad-based public input where the impact of such regulatory changes will be felt the most-local media markets. That is precisely where our members work and where consumers get the bulk of their news, information and entertainment," the media unions said in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), David Price (D-N.C.) and Diane Watson (D-Calif.) have been leading the fight to overturn the new FCC rules in Congress.
Hinchey and the other members have sponsored the Media Ownership Reform Act of 2004 (HR 4069), to restore fairness in broadcasting, reduce media concentration and ensure that broadcasters meet public interest requirements.
The two members of the five-member FCC who opposed the ownership changes were also on hand for the press conference and joined in calling for public hearings. "Let's insist this time that our colleagues on the commission include the American people in the process instead of shutting them out like they did last time," said Commissioner Michael Copps, joined by Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
So far, Copps and Adelstein are the only commissioners listening. On Wednesday night, they were the only FCC members to attend a hearing on media ownership in Monterey, Calif., that drew more than 500 people. The line of those who wanted to speak stretched outside the city's convention center.
The poll of media workers, conducted by a Washington, D.C. research group, shows that journalists are extremely concerned about media consolidation undermining news quality and credibility.
"This scientific poll confirms what AFTRA has asserted... that media ownership consolidation is doing irreparable harm to local and national news coverage and thus to a key fabric of democracy in our country. Even as the literal number of entertainment, news and information outlets increases, actual decision-making, including news judgment, is falling into fewer and fewer hands," AFTRA President John Connolly said.
Mona Mangan, executive director of the Writers Guild, East, said the poll is a "wake up call" that the "FCC must stop catering to the interests of media conglomerates and focus on what is in the best interest of the public."
Among the poll's findings, nearly eight out of ten respondents said consolidation has lowered journalism standards, with 83 percent saying the most serious problem facing the industry is too much emphasis on the bottom line. Many of those surveyed cited understaffing (73 percent) and lack of time and resources to do a professional job (68 percent) as trends threatening quality news reporting today. More than half said employee morale is getting worse.