Why Not Deny Chicago Licenses?

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Mitchell Szczepanczyk, Chicago Media Action]
[Commentary] Szczepanczyk asked the FCC to take seriously his groups petition to deny the license renewals of all Chicago-area television stations. Chicago may well be “all about local politics,” but the petition emphasizes the point that the full panoply of Chicago and Chicago-related political races and campaigns, of which there is no shortage -- especially during an election year -- were well-nigh invisible to TV-watching Chicagoans. The study of Chicago TV coverage cited by the petition only covered a month of newscasts and public-affairs shows before the election, but people are most likely to pay attention to electoral issues as an election approaches. Moreover, if people are going to want to learn about local news and public affairs, then obviously they’re going to watch the local TV news and public-affairs shows. It makes sense to focus on the last month and especially on programs devoted to news and public affairs, which should be replete with coverage of local politics -- or at least have more coverage of local politics than they had. If volunteer efforts like Chicago-area community newspapers and Web sites can find the time to cover local electoral politics, then certainly nine TV stations and all their affiliated (and paid) staff can devote a portion of their coverage to local electoral issues. But they didn't. So why should they get away with failing a key test of the obligation of their broadcast license?
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6283406.html?verticalid=311&i...
(free access for Benton's Headlines subscribers)

See also:
* Mail-order TV licensing
[SOURCE: FightingBob.com, AUTHOR: Mike McCabe]
[Commentary] The deal was supposed to be that broadcasters would get free licenses to operate on the public airwaves in exchange for their commitment to serve the public interest. The Federal Communications Commission used to take this deal seriously, monitoring compliance with the public interest obligation, enforcing the Fairness Doctrine and seriously reviewing applications for license renewal. Stations had to show how their programming served the public interest to stay in business. Today, the Fairness Doctrine is gone. So is any serious effort to hold broadcasters accountable for serving the public. The license renewal process has degenerated to the point where broadcasters now mail in a postcard requesting renewal and the FCC rubber stamps these "applications" without any meaningful review of broadcaster performance.
http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=452