GROUPS DENY PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING VIOLATES FREE SPEECH

February 20, 2001 by Mike Feazel|Miscellaneous

FCC proposal to require standardized reporting by TV stations of their public service activities doesn’t violate First Amendment, public interest groups said in reply to earlier broadcaster comments (CD Dec 20 p2). Broadcasters had said reporting requirements would impose de facto quotas for public service programming, violating broadcasters’ rights. However, Morality in Media said nothing in proposed rules constituted prior restraint and broadcasters remained “free to air what they please.” More comments were expected too late for our deadline.

Standardized quarterly disclosure forms would “turn back the regulatory clock nearly 20 years by imposing unnecessary and unconstitutional forms of content regulation,” Tribune Bcstg. said in latest round of comments (MM 00-168). Public interest groups had said making forms uniform and available on Web would make it easier for public to access information and compare stations’ performance, but Tribune said they would “reinstate ascertainment requirements” and “create de facto quotas.”

Disney said groups didn’t prove there was need for new standardized form and said critics misunderstood purpose of public service reports, “which is not to facilitate comparative fact gathering, but rather to adequately inform the members of a station’s local community” about station’s public service. Disney said backers didn’t submit evidence to prove existing system was inadequate, and “soft quota” imposed by reporting requirements raised “serious First Amendment concerns.”

People for Better TV said there was “ample evidence” that FCC should modify reporting system to “make it more useful.” Group also said “overwhelming benefits” of requiring stations to make reports available on Web “overcome the contentions… that posting this information on the Internet would be unduly burdensome.” In addition to rejecting claims that it would be burdensome to place reports on Web, Morality in Media said making them available electronically “furthers the public interest.”