Hold Broadcasters Accountable, Urges U.S. Bishop

Broadcasters should be accountable to the public in exchange for their free use of "tens of billions of dollars worth" of publicly owned airwaves, says a U.S. bishop. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, chairman of the U.S. episcopal conference's Communications Committee, urged Congress to include public interest obligations for broadcasters in legislation set for debate this week. "Today, even as the broadcasting industry continues to benefit from its subsidized use of the public airwaves, broadcasters' observance of meaningful public interest obligations has declined," Bishop Kicanas said in a statement. "We ask that, in exchange for the use of tens of billions of dollars worth of new spectrum rights, broadcasters be required to put forth a substantial effort to provide programming that better serves the public," he said. Bishop Kicanas urged the codification of public interest obligations for broadcasters in a letter to U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens. The Commerce Committee was set to deliberate on several bills updating the nation's communications laws. Broadcasters are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to use the airwaves, for free, in nominal exchange for serving the "public interest, convenience and necessity," according to current law. Bishop Kicanas noted that the U.S. bishops' conference has collected anecdotes from a significant number of dioceses which have found it increasingly difficult to place their programming on local stations.