Incubator Order Doesn't Satisfy 3rd Circuit Mandate, Say Anti-Consolidation Groups
The draft incubator order doesn’t meet the court order that the FCC analyze the effects of ownership changes on minorities, and it relies on “inadequate data,” said Free Press, the Communications Workers of America, Common Cause and United Church of…
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Christ, Office of Communication in a letter and phone conversation with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday, according to filings in docket 14-50. The incubator order won’t address the “harms to ownership diversity” from the media ownership reconsideration order because that order’s rule changes mainly affected TV ownership and the incubator draft order is limited to radio, the letter said. That means the draft order doesn’t satisfy requirements from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the FCC consider the effects of ownership rules on women and people of color, the letter said. “The Commission has ignored our insistence that it adopt measures which have been scientifically validated for their effectiveness through data and study.” Though Free Press said the FCC shouldn't issue an incubator order during the NPRM phase of the rulemaking process (see 1807060021), they changed their stance in the letter. ”Our organizations are emphatic that we would fully endorse a Commission proposal that would in fact improve ownership rates by women and people of color,” the letter said. “The current incubator proposal will do nothing to improve ownership diversity.”