House Communications Sees Support for Some Media Diversity Legislation

Several GOP leaders also partially focused on existing broadcaster and cable programs aimed at helping increase diversity. The panel was Capitol Hill’s first foray this year into exploring media policy issues that went unaddressed in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization enacted in December (see 1912190068).

“I think you’ll see some of” the four bills House Communications examined “move on to a subcommittee markup,” including HR-3957, Doyle told us. “It would make sense” for a markup soon after the coming recess. The House reconvenes Jan. 27. The other bills House Communications discussed Wednesday were: H. Res. 549; the Enhancing Broadcaster Diversity and Inclusion by Verifying and Ensuring the Reporting required by Statute is Transpiring and Yielding Data Act (HR-5564); and Measuring the Economics Driving Investments and Access for Diversity Act (HR-5567).

“There’s a lot of bipartisan support” for HR-3957, Doyle said. That measure and Senate companion S-2433 would restore the minority tax certificate and establish tax incentives to sell assets to “socially disadvantaged individuals.” It would direct the FCC to make recommendations on ways to improve ownership diversity and develop an "incubator program." There “were some legal issues" on restoring the tax certificate “but I think they’ve been corrected,” Doyle said. HR-3957 got support from Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council CEO Maurita Coley and three other witnesses, as expected (see 2001140065).

House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., believes there's a path forward on HR-3957. "The testimony was pretty strong" in favor of restoring the tax certificate, especially because witnesses demonstrated it would incentivize sellers to bring women and minorities "into the discussion" as potential buyers, he told us.

Scope Concerns

Doyle is hesitant to expand HR-3957’s scope to also apply to other groups, as some lawmakers and witnesses suggested during the Wednesday hearing.

“Where it’s at now … is probably the right thing,” Doyle said. “You don’t want to get into a situation where we’re starting to ‘Christmas tree’ this up. I don’t want to say I’m against” expanding the bill’s scope, but “I think we’ve got a better chance of passing it as it is right now.”

Santa Clara University School of Law professor Catherine Sandoval suggested Congress make a restored tax certificate also apply to service-disabled veterans. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., had asked witnesses how broadcasters help ensure veterans have a chance to own media outlets.

Doyle said he hasn’t considered expanding media diversity legislation to also apply to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, as Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, suggested. “There always seems to be this push to compare” traditional media and social media platforms, Doyle told reporters. “I know they’re both media in a sense, but they operate on completely different types of platforms.” The aim of HR-3957 is “how we help people that have a hard time getting financed, which is why the tax certificate program is so important,” he said.

Doyle also cited bipartisan support for HR-5567 and told us it’s likely that bill would also be included in a markup. HR-5567 would require the FCC “consider market entry barriers for socially disadvantaged individuals in the communications marketplace” in video competition reports.

National Urban League Senior Vice President-Advocacy and Policy Clint Odom praised HR-5564 and HR-5567. HR-5564 would require the FCC complete its equal employment opportunity enforcement NPRM (see 1904290176). Little attention focused on H. Res. 549, which would reaffirm the House’s “commitment to diversity as a core tenet of the public interest standard in media policy.”

Seeking Equity

“I do not think anyone can dispute that ownership of our media does not reflect the diversity of our country,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “While women and people of color make up over 50 percent of our population, broadcast ownership by them hovers around 10 percent.” It’s “imperative that Congress, the FCC and all interested stakeholders work together” on this.

Lead HR-3957 sponsor Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., believes restoration of the tax certificate and other legislation would be “important first steps” to move toward a “truly equitable media marketplace.” He noted decades of “discriminatory barriers designed to exclude certain groups” before the certificate’s initial 1978 introduction. He said its return would help “ensure that women and minorities have equal access” to the opportunity to own media outlets. House Commerce Vice Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., wants to ensure “diverse voices are being represented” on- and off-screen, citing her sponsorship of HR-5564.

Walden said that “some of the bills before us today represent an important step forward to promote diversity in the broadcast industry,” but “more work can be done.” He and House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, cited existing FCC and industry efforts to increase diversity. Latta would have preferred the subcommittee precede a look at bills like HR-3957 with an informational hearing. "More work must be done” despite the media industry making “big strides” via voluntary efforts to increase diversity, Latta said.

“I understand the efforts the broadcast industry -- and the media industry as a whole -- takes to ensure diversity of ownership, viewpoint and employment,” Walden said: "I believe I am the only person on this dais who has had to make those hiring decisions for a broadcast station. I know firsthand the business imperative to serve your local audience with local news and programming specific to your community, and what happens to advertising revenue when you don’t ensure a rich diversity of content.”

Latta focused on whether Congress could have a role in advancing the FCC broadcast incubator program, which the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated in its Prometheus IV ruling (see 1909230067). Congress could reinstate a revised version of the program, which it could expand to also include TV stations, said ShootingStar CEO Diane Sutter, testifying on behalf of NAB. Congress would “not be constrained” by the same rules that bound the FCC’s scuttled program, she said.