New NAB President Meets With Genachowski

Smith made a pitch for "modest" media ownership reform

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/29/2009 5:28:21 PM

New National Association of Broadcasters President (as of Oct. 27) Gordon Smith didn't waste any time meeting with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
 
According to a copy of a filing with the commission supplied by NAB, Smith, NAB Joint Board Chair Steven Newberry and General Counsel Jane Mago all met with the chairman Oct. 28.
 
According to the filing, required for ex parte contacts with the FCC, Smith made a pitch for "modest" media ownership reform, suggesting it would help preserve "quality journalism."
 
The FCC this week launched an assessment of the media marketplace with an eye toward preserving access to information. There is also a state-of-journalism inquiry somewhere in the pipeline, teed up by then acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps.
 
Smith also put in a plug for reinstating the minority tax certificate program as a way to promote diversity, though that reinstatement will have to come from Congress.