COVID-19 Could Add Weight to Media Ownership Arguments, Says NAB
The continuing pandemic could bolster arguments to relax media ownership rules, depending on the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the FCC’s appeal of Prometheus IV, said NAB lobbyists on a Radio Show panel Thursday. “Broadcasters are under…
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a lot of fire from a lot of competition,” General Counsel Rick Kaplan said. Local journalism has become even more important during COVID-19, and lawmakers will have to realize that preserving it while subjecting only broadcasters to outsized regulation won’t work, he said. A SCOTUS decision in the FCC’s favor could strike down rules such as the eight-voices test but might also involve sending the case back to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with new standards for reviewing the matter, Kaplan said. “There are many things on the table.” Kaplan expects the high court argument to be heard in January or February, and a decision by June, though earlier is possible, he said. If the election brings a change in the White House, NAB believes an incoming Democratic administration could make media ownership and diversity priorities in its communications policy, said NAB Vice President-Government Relations Grisella Martinez. Kaplan said he expects prospective FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to approach the job similarly to the ways of the commissioner he would replace, Mike O’Rielly. “He’ll come in willing to learn,” Kaplan said of Simington.