Chicago and Milwaukee TV Licenses Challenged

The Media Access Project (MAP) filed a formal petition with the Federal Communication Commission requesting that it deny the pending license renewal applications of Chicago and Milwaukee television stations. The petition charges that the stations in question fell far short of their obligations to serve the public interest by failing to provide adequate coverage of local and state elections during the 2004 campaign. A 1998 Benton study found that TV broadcasters in Chicago and four other markets provided almost no programming addressing local issues. In response to the MAP filing, Benton Foundation Chairman Charles Benton said, "This case clearly demonstrates the lose-lose scenario of not properly defining the public interest obligations of broadcasters: TV stations put their licenses at risk in a race to serve their narrow commercial interests -- and the public does not get the critical information it needs for a democratic society to function."