TV OR NOT TV, CAN I SEE YOUR PUBLIC FILE?

By Ken and Kelly Orchard

The television industry was recently given a negative rating for "serving the public interest" in a report sent to the former Federal Communication Commission Chairman William Kennard. The report submitted on behalf of the California Chapter of People For Better Television made claims, based on a research project, that local television stations were for the most part not serving

the public interest within their community of license.

You may be asking what this has to do with radio? Nothing, directly. However, are there soon going to be organizations investigating the radio industry too?

People For Better Television visited television stations all over California to inspect the public file. First they watched November 2000 television and wrote letters about their community service efforts. Then, they visited the stations in December 2000 to see if their letter had actually made it in to the Public File.

Some of their stories are quite interesting. The 10-page report tells of one TV station in a major market that not only denied them access to the premises, the Public File, and their legal rights, but they also treated them as criminals. Once this TV staff learned that their actions in treating people who want to see a station’s Public File" were illegal according to FCC regulations, the People For Better Television representatives were allowed to see the file, but were warned that a security camera was on them.

Another visit to a TV manager about the quality of programs serving the community brought an argument about those shows. The manager is quoted as saying "If shows get low ratings it gets canceled." I don’t remember where in the FCC rules and regulations it says that if TV or Radio Public Service shows that cover the issues of the community get low ratings that they can be cancelled.

Another complaint was this station had no local community affairs programs at all. The station said they serve the community through their web site. As for their commitment to serve the children’s programming they just ran mostly cartoon shows.

Another story. A receptionist did not know what the Public File was when this group came to inspect this TV station file.

The stories continue: About 30 % of the issues were crime reports and not useful for community programming.

After waiting for over an hour, this People for Better TV was told the person who had the keys to the Public File was not in the office.

Another station did not have letters for the last 6 months and the letter that had been sent to the station was not in the file.

Files at another station where not broken down or in any kind of reasonable order at all. The group was forced to look through the unorganized mess and read through the letters, one letter was objecting to a shot of three women wearing only bras and underwear during the opening of Monday night football. The People for Better TV did not find the letter that they had sent to this TV station.

At a visit to a Network station. The People for Better TV arrived at the gate and said they were there to see the public file. The security guard made a phone call and they were told, "They don’t have time today to meet with you." They then explained to the guard that they had a right to see the file. The guard made some phone calls and informed the group that they did not have security clearance to enter the lot and so they were hereby denied. The group asked the guard who denied them access he replied, "the man in charge of the Public File."

That is the extreme story. There were actually a few stations that handled the situation of a surprise visit very professionally and their station was found to be serving the public quite well.

The final results of this project, however, showed that television as a whole is not completely serving the public and that some employees within the industry itself are unaware of FCC rules and regulations regarding the Public’s access to their station. It also uncovered Public Files to be in disarray, and no consistency in how files are kept from one station to another, which tended to be quite confusing.

Again, you are asking, what does this have to do with radio? You may even have the reaction, "Don’t those people have anything better to do than to try to make trouble for broadcasters?" The answer is; obviously they are dedicated to assuring that licensees deserve the right to have that license for the benefit of the public they serve. They went to a lot of effort to put this report together, and to send it to the FCC. It was also submitted to The California Broadcasters Association, which will be made available to its members.

This is a wake up call for the entire broadcast industry. The Federal Communications Commission has made it clear what they expect from broadcasters in radio and television alike. They have outlined eleven principals broadcasters should follow to ensure they are serving the public interest.

In the FCC’s report to Senators regarding these eleven principals, they are: local issue-oriented programming, public service announcements, and communications with communities, airing disaster emergency information, among others.

Not too long ago, Orchard Media Services conducted a similar research project on radio stations. We submitted an article to another radio trade publication that reported the outcome of a three-week tour of radio stations and their Public Files. Not surprisingly, 75% of the stations failed miserably. Receptionists and other employees didn’t have any knowledge about a Public File, or we were told that with deregulation, stations no longer needed to keep a Public File. And of course, there are our own stories of radio stations treating us like criminals as well for interrupting their very busy day.

The findings were so similar with these two projects that once again we find ourselves encouraging fellow broadcasters to take the necessary steps to insure that your station is performing all the requirements in the terms to have an FCC License to Broadcast.

Broadcast Managers need to inform employees on a regular basis the requirements of holding a license to broadcast. They need to be educated about the Public Inspection File, and the public’s right to access it. Perhaps it is time to evaluate your Public File and Public Service Commitment.

So often we hear, "Tthe FCC isn’t going to inspect my station, I’ll take my chances." Others just don’t want to be bothered with something so mundane as their Public File. "Well, our lawyers handle all of that for us." How many times have we all said this?

happen. We are currently working on a TV Public File and found that in 1990 this station was inspected and fined $800 for not having an up-to-date and organized public file. The station paid that find along with several others. Because of this inspection the station paid attention to their responsibility of FCC rules and regulation and for the next few years the file was maintained properly. Then over the last three years, after their renewal license was granted, the owner’s cut back on employees and the person who did the file was laid off.

What can we learn from this? Well, in 2001 FCC fine for not maintaining a Public File is now $10,000 instead of $800. I wonder what the find will be in 2010?

Well fellow broadcasters if you find last months copy of Radio Shopper you will find that the Enforcement Bureau was very busy last year and will continue to be diligent again this year of 2001.

With the recent election and all the controversy in Florida, there seem to be organizations popping up to all over the country, with the agenda to "keep watch" for the rights of the public. These groups focus on voting rights, abortion rights, children’s rights….you get the picture. Someone will soon form an organization that will be in need of something they heard on your radio station. Don’t allow your staff to get caught not knowing what they should about the Public Access to your station.

Your states broadcast association should be able to assist you in getting your stations in compliance.