Media Researchers Wanted to Critique FCC Studies
Carolyn M. Byerly, a professor at Howard University, points researchers and other interested parties to an FCC public notice that states:
FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON RESEARCH STUDIES ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Byerly writes that since these researchers were picked by the FCC and not via a competitive call for research, care should be taken for possible built-in bias. These studies must, in her mind, be vetted by those knowledgeable about the subject matter because they will definitely have an effect on youth, women and ethnic groups. The 10 studies include:
Study 1: How People Get News and Information
Study 2: Ownership Structure & Robustness of Media
Study 3: Television Station Ownership Structure & the Quantity & Quality of TV Programming
Study 4: News Operations
Study 5: Station Ownership & Programming in Radio
Study 6: The Effects of Cross-Ownership on the Local Content & Political Slant of Television News
Study 7: Minority & Female Ownership in Media Enterprises
Study 8: The Impact of the FCC’s TV Duopoly Rule Relaxation on Minority & Women-Owned Broadcast Stations 1999-2006
Study 9: Vertical Integration & the Market for Broadcast 7 Cable Television Programming
Study 10: Review of the Radio Industry, 2007
Here is Byerly:
The FCC invited these individuals and groups to conduct the 10 studies in Fall 2006 in a manner that was less than transparent and for sums heretofore undisclosed. In other words, there was no call for proposal published by the Commission, and there was no method stated for how these particular researchers were chosen – steps that would have assured a more open process and competitive bidding by a wider range of those who do media ownership-related research. This is not necessarily to say that qualified researchers didn’t conduct the studies, only that reviewers should be alert to the perspectives and interests the reports may contain, when you are scrutinizing the documents
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