[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 45 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              LOCALISM REFORM IN BROADCASTING ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2005

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the ever-growing 
problem of radio and television stations that seem to have forgotten 
that the American public owns the airwaves on which they broadcast. 
Those stations also appear to have lost sight of the public interest 
obligations they assumed when they were awarded those airwaves, which 
today are collectively worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
  To cite evidence of this lack of responsibility, a recent Poynter 
Institute study found that in the month leading up to Election Day 
2004, local issues and races garnered just 8 percent of the local 
evening newscasts in 11 of the nation's largest TV markets. Stated 
another way, ninety-two percent of the news broadcasts studied 
contained no stories about races for the U.S. House, state senate or 
assembly, mayor, city council, law enforcement posts, judgeships, 
education offices, or regional or county offices.
  Our citizens and constituents deserve more from broadcasters than 
canned weather and news, and local reporting of fires and murders. They 
deserve the vital information about issues of national and local 
importance that will allow them to make decisions about how our 
democracy should operate. Therefore, today I am introducing with my 
colleague John J. Duncan, Jr., the Localism Reform in Broadcasting Act 
of 2005 to increase broadcasters' accountability to the public they 
serve.
  The bill will have slight impact on stations meeting their public 
interest obligations, but it will give citizens greater leverage 
dealing with stations that do not. It would reduce the license term for 
broadcasters from 8 years to 3, thereby requiring broadcasters to 
provide the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with information 
every 3 years why their license should be renewed. Broadcasters would 
be required regularly to post information about their local public 
affairs programming on their Internet site. The FCC would be required 
to review at least five percent of all license and renewal 
applications. During license renewal proceedings, the FCC will be able 
to review not only the performance of the station seeking approval, but 
also the performance of all stations owned by the licensee. Finally, 
the FCC would be required to complete its open proceeding on whether 
public interest obligations should apply to broadcasters in the digital 
era.
  I think we all would prefer that broadcasters honor their 
responsibilities without being forced to do so by Congress. However, 
owner consolidation is growing, more and more stations are being run by 
absentee landlords in corporate offices far away, and their record is 
going from bad to worse. It is now up to us to put local back into 
local broadcasting, by giving citizens more control over content in 
what is--again, I repeat--their airwaves. This legislation is a step in 
the right direction to make that happen, and I urge my colleagues to 
join me in this effort.

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