PBS, NPR: FCC Reporting Requirement Is Illegal

A phalanx of noncommercial broadcasting entities is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider and reverse a January order that was billed as improving the data collected from broadcasters to help the commission analyze ownership and diversity issues. The bottom line, said the FCC back in January, is that the moves would improve the reliability and comprehensiveness of its media ownership data, including on diversity and including noncommercial station reporting to more closely square with commercial.

In comments in support of a petition for reconsideration filed by some noncommercial broadcasters, America's Public Television Stations, PBS, CPB, and NPR all said the FCC's decision to require members of noncommercial TV (and radio) governing boards to disclose "highly sensitive personal information is "ill-founded and must be reconsidered." Their main point is that the basic ownership-tracking purposes of the reference numbers tied to that information is not relevant to noncommerical TV and radio stations. "The FCC has no statutory authority to burden noncommercial licensees with disclosure obligations that Congress designed to serve policy goals relevant only to commercial stations," they told the FCC.