The FCC Should Stay Out Of TV Newsrooms

Before we get to the FCC today, I want to congratulate Scott Blumenthal of LIN Media who is retiring at the end of the year after 43 years in broadcasting, 30 of them with LIN. I am reminded to do this by the congratulatory ads that began appearing on TVNewsCheck this week from some of the folks with whom he has worked over the years.

Blumenthal began his career in broadcasting upon graduating from Indiana State in 1970 with jobs at stations in Indiana. LIN recruited him in 1983 and put him to work as the local sales manager at WISH Indianapolis. He was a keeper. After managing stations for LIN in Grand Rapids, Mich., he returned to WISH in 1999 as general manager and soon began moving up the corporate ranks — regional VP in 2002, VP, television, in 2005; and EVP, television, in 2006.

He paid his industry dues, sitting on the boards of Michigan and Indiana state broadcasting associations, the TVB and the CBS affiliates.

In announcing the retirement last September, LIN CEO Vince Sadusky heaped on the praise: “Scott’s deep understanding of television news, programming, sales and community engagement, coupled with his decisive leadership, has contributed enormously to the growth and success of our company.”

I don’t know about all that. What I can say is that over the past several years, Scott has been gracious and candid in his dealings with TVNewsCheck. Whenever I ran into him at a reception or conference, he would stop to chat and tell me what was going on. A reporter can’t ask for more.

Scott’s successor is Jay Howell. I wish him success and look forward to making his acquaintance.

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Now to the FCC and the kerfuffle over a study it’s conducting on local media in Columbia, S.C.

It was touched off by a group of GOP lawmakers led by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton. In an letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the group on Tuesday charged that the study that would profile the local media in the South Carolina capital and explain how they operate was “wrong” and “unconstitutional.”

 “The commission has no business probing the news media’s editorial judgment and expertise, nor does it have any business in prescribing a set diet of ‘critical information,’ ” the lawmakers said. “These goals are plainly inappropriate and are at bottom an incursion by the government into the constitutionally protected operations of the professional news media.”

It is nothing less than an attempt to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, they said. “We urge you to put a stop to this most recent attempt to engage the FCC as the ‘news police.’ “

The letter was only fair warning. At a House oversight hearing Thursday, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden went after Wheeler in person.

“As somebody with a journalism degree, I do get a little chill up my spine thinking about the government asking how these decisions are made,” Walden told Wheeler. “Are these the kinds of questions a government entity should be asking of the news media? These seem like really internal journalistic issues.”

Wheeler, testifying at an oversight hearing for the first time, defended the study, saying that it is part of the FCC’s statutory obligation to report to Congress on market and legal barriers that keep women, minorities and small businesses out of broadcasting and other telecommunications businesses. “This is not an effort to influence the media,” he said.

Despite Wheeler’s assurances, the lawmakers are correct in sounding the alarm. It’s one thing to profile local media to see how the market could be opened up to more players. It’s something entirely else to muck around in the editorial decision making of broadcasters and other media. As the lawmakers said, government has no business in the newsroom.

While the lawmakers’ claim that the FCC’s aim is to bring back the Fairness Doctrine is hyperbolic, it does make the point.

The genesis of the study goes back to before Wheeler arrived at the FCC in November, but he’s now responsible.

To demonstrate that he meant what he told Congress this week (“This is not an effort to influence the media.”), he should kill the study or simply amend the study guidelines to eliminate the “qualitative” element — the part where researchers go in and interview news people.

If he doesn’t, broadcasters should keep in mind that they don’t have to play along. The FCC has awarded the contract to Silver Spring, Md.-based Social Solutions International for an initial study in Columbia, one of a planned six apparently.

I know broadcasters have been trained since they were pups to jump when the FCC says jump, but just because the study is being done for the FCC doesn’t imbue SSI or any other contractor with some special power.

To the TV broadcasters of Columbia, I would say that if SSI comes calling, asking a bunch of questions about how you produce the news, politely decline and point the researchers to the public files. Nothing is compelling you to cooperate.

If the FCC somehow tries to strong-arm the Columbia stations into cooperating, then I would hope that every member of Congress cracks down hard on the agency.

I’ve got another gripe with the study, by the way. It is a colossal waste of money. The lawmakers say the study is costing $900,000. The FCC tells us that it has awarded SSI $336,000 for the Columbia study alone. That’s on top of $130,000 it earlier paid SSI for designing the study.

You should recall the late, great Sen. Everett Dirksen’s famous comment on federal budgeting: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

But here’s another I found from the senator that is more applicable in this case. “We are becoming so accustomed to millions and billions that thousands has almost passed out of the dictionary.”

Dirksen has been gone since 1969. Since then, “thousands” has disappeared from the congressional lexicon, even though they add up to millions and millions add up to billions and billions to $17 trillion, our current national debt.

If the FCC wants to know who owns what in Columbia, it can check its own database. And if it wants to know what’s keeping small businesses from entering the broadcasting business in Columbia, I can tell you right now: money.

For $50 million-$60 million, you probably could buy WIS, Raycom’s NBC affiliate, the market leader. If that’s too rich, consider one of the market’s unaffiliated TV stations for couple of million or an FM station for a million or so. An AM daytimer? Sure, and maybe for less than what the FCC is paying SSI.

There you go, FCC. No charge.

Harry A. Jessell is editor of TVNewsCheck. He can be contacted at 973-701-1067 or [email protected]. You can read earlier columns here.