Opinion: Deregulation We Can All Agree On
Former FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate's top ten suggestions for promoting diversity in broadcasting
By Deborah Taylor Tate, Former FCC Commissioner -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
Deborah Taylor Tate
Last January, I said goodbye to the Federal Communications
Commission, but not goodbye to some of the issues that had a profound impact on
me both as a commissioner and a citizen. During this historic economic
downturn, as we as a nation are turning our minds and thoughts to recovery and
reinvestment, I would like to highlight the very real circumstances faced by
women, minorities and small business generally in gaining access to capital to
buy and build broadcast companies. However, this is not merely to showcase the
problem; it is about concrete, effective actions which can be taken by
government and the private sector alike so that we will be ready as capital
becomes available again.
Radio waves are not partisan, nor are they liberal or conservative, but their use does affect every single American. They are a national resource that must be protected, safeguarded and open-just like our national parks-for all of us.
I was proud to be part of the FCC that unanimously took the unprecedented step of adopting thirteen specific recommendations to encourage more diversity. Some of the FCC's initiatives have great promise -relaxation of rules to jump-start the seller paper market, and its ban on racial discrimination in broadcast advertising. Periodically, the FCC needs to review these policies and analyze their results. Last summer, we held an historic hearing in Harlem with some of the most influential Wall Street lenders and moderated by CNBC's Erin Burnett. What an earful we received:
- The National Association of Broadcasters identified access to capital as "the largest roadblock to a more diverse broadcast industry.
- Women comprise more than half of the population, and yet the representation of women in ownership positions is strikingly low -3.4% of radio stations and 5% of full-power television stations. Only 7% percent of the directors of the fourteen largest radio companies are women, despite the fact that over 50% of all radio stations have formats skew to female listeners.
- The story is even more dramatic for minority owners: 3% of all broadcast TV and 7.8% of commercial radio.
There is much more to be done.
If my years in government have left me with one irrefutable bit of wisdom regarding public policy, it is that government may have considerable influence, but most of the initiative on practical and moral issues like diversity needs to come from the hearts and minds of private citizens. Just last month, Clear Channel Communications donated four (4) radio stations to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and will now be used for training women and minorities to be broadcast account executives, programmers, managers and owners. Certainly, there are positive tax consequences for the donors, but more importantly, this will provide more diversity of our airwaves - a gift that will truly keep on giving for years to come.
So with that in mind, here are my top ten suggestions for what both the public and private sector can do to promote diversity:
1. The most effective diversity program the FCC ever had - and I hope Congress brings it back soon - was the Tax Certificate Policy, developed in 1977 under Republican FCC Chairman Richard Wiley and authorized in 1978 under Democratic FCC Chairman Charles Ferris. As the stimulus package looks to tax incentives, what better time than now to act.
2. Last year, I challenged the FCC and continue to urge additional access to capital hearings on a regular basis and in other financial and media centers like Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, and Dallas.
3. Investors must make diversity a priority in their overall portfolios. By 2020, the majority of high school graduates will be non-white, so diversity will be increasingly good for the bottom line. Women and minorities at the top of their firms should make it a priority, from the top down, to value and invest in diversity. Investors whose portfolios include family businesses should consider establishing set-aside funds to assist women and minorities.
4. Venture capital firms should create leadership development programs to better prepare women and minorities to lead fast-growth businesses, whether high-tech or not; and sponsor forums like Springboard 2000, the first venture capital forum to showcase women entrepreneurs, allowing them to present their business plans to angel, venture, and corporate investors and event sponsors.
5. Major corporations and trade associations should encourage and sponsor additional research to examine the process by which men, women-, and minority-led ventures are screened by angel and venture capital firms, to determine if there are any differences; and based on that research, establish blind review processes where necessary.
6. Trade associations should enlist marketing experts and corporate coaches, as well as PR and image consultants to donate their time to assist borrowers and buyers to present their best-case scenarios to financial institutions and investors.
7. Companies should track investments and performance of investments by gender, race, and ethnicity, as well as geographic location, and sponsor research to examine the extent to which venture capitalists, angels, and limited partners (pension funds, endowments, and insurance companies) perceive investments in women and minority-led ventures as more risky investments. Trade associations should mitigate risk adverse decision-making through educational programs for decision-makers to learn about success stories.
8. States and large corporations should set aside funds for small, disadvantaged, women and minority investments. California does this by utilizing monies from a pension fund to invest in capital venture funds that focus on minority media ownership. So far, at least eight Hispanic broadcast companies have benefited.
9. Companies should establish internships and structured mentoring programs to help women and minorities get into the pipeline so they can eventually be considered for leadership and ownership positions.
10. The FCC-and indeed all government agencies--should launch a review of all of agency rules and repeal the ones that impede diversity while serving no critical purpose. That's the kind of deregulation all of us can support.
Particularly in these difficult economic times, we should redouble our efforts to enable women and minorities to advance in all types of leadership positions - from the boardroom to the green room to the control room, behind the microphone or in front of the camera - in every sphere of influence. Only then can our media truly reflect the diversity of our great nation.
Deborah Taylor Tate is a member of the Board of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council in Washington,DC; Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Free State Foundation, and serves on the boards of Common Sense Media and Centerstone, Inc. She served as a member of the Federal Communications Commission until January 2009.
FCC Commissioners Discuss Diversity
07/21/2008MMTC Has Ear to Radio
07/31/2008Meredith Attwell Baker Gets FCC Nod
06/24/2009
Featured Company
-
Parks Associates
Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups throug..more
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
