Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 15, 2008 at 11:36:48:
Off the hook
FCC rejects media watchdog's claim about election coverage
As local television stations accelerate their coverage of the 2008 political races, they've been cleared of charges stemming from 2004 elections.
The Federal Communications Commission last week ruled against an appeal by two public-interest groups that nine Chicago stations should lose their licenses.
Stations targeted by Chicago Media Action were CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2; NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 and WSNS-Channel 44; ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7; Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9; Weigel-owned WCIU-Channel 26; Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 and WPWR-Channel 50, and ION-owned WCPX-Channel 38.
The group claimed that by not providing adequate coverage of local and state elections in 2004, they failed to serve the needs and interests of the public. Those are requirements for license renewal.
"The FCC mandate to serve the public interest is laudable in theory but pathetic in practice," the group said after its initial petition was denied last year. "For one, how to serve the 'public interest' has never been formally defined, so that any dismal media or policy can be construed as 'serving the public interest' in the absence of any overarching public policy standard."
A similar group, Milwaukee Public Interest Media Coalition, filed a parallel complaint against 11 stations in Milwaukee. The FCC action denied its appeal as well.
(Feder)