The Federal Communications Commission has considered four aspects of diversity: 1) Viewpoint diversity ensures that the public has access to a wide range of diverse and antagonistic opinions and interpretations provided by opportunities for varied groups, entities and individuals to participate in the different phases of the broadcast industry; 2) Outlet diversity is the control of media outlets by a variety of independent owners; 3) Source diversity ensures that the public has access to information and programming from multiple content providers; and 4) Program diversity refers to a variety of programming formats and content.
Diversity
FCC Seeks Nominations for Membership on Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations for membership on, and a Chairperson for, the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (the Committee). The FCC intends to establish the Committee for a period of two (2) years, with an expected starting date in the fall of 2017.
The Committee’s mission will be to provide recommendations to the FCC on how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries, including as owners, suppliers, and employees. It will also provide recommendations to the Commission on how to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not denied the wide range of opportunities made possible by next-generation networks. This Committee is intended to provide an effective means for stakeholders with interests in these areas to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to the Commission on media ownership and procurement opportunities, empowering communities in order to spur educational, economic, and civic development, and consumer access to digital technologies. The Committee’s work is intended to enhance the Commission’s ability to carry out its statutory responsibility to promote policies favoring diversity of media voices, localism, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity.
Nominations for membership to the Committee should be submitted to the FCC no later than 11:59 PM EST, Wednesday, June 28, 2017.
Online news outlets employing more women than print, TV: Report
In March, the Women’s Media Center released “The Status of Women in US Media 2017,” its annual report to assess “how a diversity of females fare across all media platforms.” The study found that men outnumber women both in bylines and as sources in stories. Journalism’s gender problem, however, looks a bit different outside male-dominated print and TV news. Online-only news outlets have come much closer to achieving gender balance, and a few journalism fellowships have made strides to better support female journalists. Women fared better in print news, according to the report, but not by much: men produced 62 percent of content.