By Stacey Woelfel, RTDNA Chairman

It’s a place that every broadcaster thinks about, that institution in Washington, DC that’s always watching, always listening.  Seemingly a contradiction in many ways to the First Amendment is a government agency that regulates what broadcasters do.  Yet the Federal Communications Commission has been a reality for broadcasters for nearly 76 years—starting long before anyone knew there would be such a thing as a “digital era.”

But that era is upon us and the commission is calling on experts in both traditional broadcasting and new media to come share the current state of the media and what changes have been brought on by the shift to digital.  First Amendment attorney Kathy Kirby of Wiley Rein LLP, along with her associate from the firm, Matthew Gibson, and I were lucky enough to get to accompany RTDNA President Emeritus Barbara Cochran as she appeared as a key witness in the commission’s workshop entitled “Serving the Public Interest in the Digital Era.”
 
Cochran’s testimony came in the second of three sessions on the digital transition.  Workshop attendees began the day reviewing past policies and rules regarding the public interest role of the agency and what effect those policies have had on the industry.  By afternoon, the main event had rolled around with Cochran’s turn to address the group.  Her statement gave those in attendance a real look into the richness of news coverage provided by broadcasters, including the important public safety and service we provide every day. 

The secret to that success, Cochran told the group, is that the news and information comes from a local source. 

“Local television and radio stations give viewers and listeners the important information they need to live their daily lives in the communities they call home,” Cochran said.  “It’s news, but it’s also weather and sports.  It’s a commitment to going on the air and staying on the air in emergencies.”

Cochran went on to tell the group that much of the digital innovation that has come to benefit viewers and listeners of local news and information has been pioneered by the same broadcasters who have been serving their communities for decades. 

She outlined a number of local coverage initiatives going on across the country, from Seattle to Boston, West Palm Beach to Chicago.  These examples were just a few to show that local broadcasters are doing far more than sit back and rest on their laurels as legacy institutions.  Cochran stressed that these broadcasters are doing everything they can to make the most of what new tools allow them to do for their viewers and listeners. 

“The vast majority of America’s radio and television stations are meeting their public interest obligations by using the spectrum allocated to them to the great benefit of their listeners and viewers,” Cochran said.  “In fact, I think it fair to say that broadcasters embrace the charge to serve their local communities, and have done so in spectacular fashion even in the wake of deregulation.” 
     
Cochran ended her remarks with a note that the commission not go too far in its pursuit of this new initiative and risk infringing on the First Amendment rights of broadcasters.

“Any regulation that touches upon the content of broadcast news or intrudes into broadcast newsrooms is perilous for our democracy, rife with the potential for unintended consequences and, in the context of today’s discussion, wholly unnecessary,” Cochran said. 

Citing the perilous business times in which broadcasters find themselves, Cochran warned that expensive, over-regulation could lead to the unintended consequence of less service to the public.

“Additional regulation will not further the goals the Commission seeks to achieve, but will turn its efforts upside down by draining station resources and forcing broadcasters to base editorial decisions on the government’s private notions of what the public ought to hear rather than the desires of the audiences broadcasters are licensed to serve,” Cochran said.

Those joining Cochran to represent broadcasters on the panel were Jerald Fritz, Senior Vice President at Allbritton Communications Company and Jane Mago, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters.  Both Fritz and Mago spoke on the efforts local radio and television stations make to serve the public interest and how those stations are part of the innovation that’s moving news delivery into the digital era.

Workshop leader Steve Waldman, senior adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, questioned of the group following their prepared remarks.  Waldman asked Cochran specifically about radio and how its role has changed in serving its communities.  Cochran responded that while some radio stations had cut back on local news personnel in their particular buildings, new technology has allowed stations with strong news commitments to allowing deliver news to more stations across a larger area through the use of content sharing arrangements. 

She also cited those stations, like KOA-AM in Denver, putting more newsgathering tools in the hands of more journalists, keeping them in the field working rather than being tied to the station to do their reporting.  In addition, Cochran held out the example of how radio is increasing the amount of local news available in her hometown of Akron Ohio.  Station WAKR-AM there not only does its news over the air, but has brought local video coverage of stories to the city through its website.
The workshop included comments from three experts on the changes deregulation and the shifting marketplace have brought to broadcasting. 

Those panelists focused on what they see as the need for the commission to redouble its efforts to require local public service from all broadcasters. Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project acknowledged the good job some broadcasters do in serving their communities, but urged the commission to focus its efforts on those who do little or nothing.

Eric Klinenberg, professor of sociology at New York University, cited his research on radio’s transition to smaller staffs and the subsequent lack of local coverage that affords some communities.  And Angela Campbell, professor at Georgetown Law, focused on her research into the digital television transition.  She told the group the transition has not yielded the additional public service programming hoped for in a multichannel, digital broadcasting system. 

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, began the panel with an overview of the current state of the industry and the changes brought on deregulation, station ownership changes, and the increasingly competitive media landscape.

You can read Barbara Cochran’s entire statement to the workshop by clicking here.