Broadcasters, Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) and Nationa...

Broadcasters, Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) and National Organization for Women (NOW) have been battling especially hard for hearts and minds of FCC commissioners over EEO rules in recent days. MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig visited Chmn. Powell’s legal adviser Susan Eid to make case that Blumrosens study of discrimination in American industry “can be useful in illuminating intentional discrimination.” Honig said that while question whether FCC should require broadcasters to submit employment data in Form 395-B should be deferred to subsequent rulemaking, data in that form should remain available for statistical analyses of employment trends. NOW said in its ex parte filing that it was generally supportive of FCC’s proposed rules, but suggested some modifications. Specifically, NOW would have FCC require broadcasters to report recruitment source for each hire, total number of persons interviewed for each vacancy and total number of interviewees referred by each source. In addition to Internet, NOW would require broadcasters to use traditional recruitment sources such as newspapers and job fairs. However, state broadcasting associations called MMTC’s filing, including Blumrosens study, “inaccurate -- indeed wildly wrong -- in many respects.” State broadcasters said MMTC undoubtedly would use Form 395-Bs to find stations whose reports show underrepresentation of minorities according to statistical test and use that information to file petitions to deny license renewals. Such statistical tests would fly in face of ruling in Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod v. FCC, which held that FCC’s EEO rules were unconstitutional race-based classification because they pressured broadcasters to hire employees based on race, state broadcasters said. “The Commission not only has a constitutional obligation to avoid pressuring broadcasters into using quotas; the Commission also has an obligation to avoid establishing processes that third parties are likely to use to try to establish unconstitutional hiring quotas,” state broadcasters wrote. By giving MMTC ammunition to make such findings, FCC would be putting public pressure on broadcasters. State broadcasters said Commission shouldn’t collect such data, but, if it must, it should be done by 3rd party acting as clearinghouse for aggregation of such data “on an anonymous, not-attributable basis” so MMTC couldn’t wage campaigns against individual broadcasters. NAB, in letter, said MMTC’s “plain declaration that it will use information from 395-B forms to target stations demonstrates that station-specific employment data will be used to pressure stations to hire minorities and women to avoid lengthy FCC proceedings.” NAB said if FCC must collect such data, it should do so in manner that’s not specific to individual stations. However, NAB also contended collecting data would largely duplicate what already was reported to Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. All this comes as new EEO rules for broadcasting and cable were being circulated on 8th floor with intention of making Commission’s Nov. 7 agenda meeting, sources told us (CD Oct 29 p5). However, whether rules will make agenda, to be released Thurs., was unclear.