Localism in Broadcasting

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Background on Localism and the FCC

Along with competition and diversity, localism has been a cornerstone of broadcast regulation for decades.  Broadcasters, who are temporary trustees of the public’s airwaves, must use the medium to serve the public interest, and the FCC has consistently interpreted this to mean that broadcasters must air programming that is responsive to the interests and needs of their communities that they are licensed to serve. 

Despite the FCC's commitment to the premise that radio and TV stations must serve their local communities, in recent years Congress and the FCC have eliminated many of the rules that required broadcasters to demonstrate that they were operating in the public interest. For example, in the past, the FCC regulated the way that stations collected input from their local communities about what issues mattered to them. The FCC required broadcasters to maintain programming logs, which broadcasters used to inform their communities about how they serve the public interest, for purposes of program planning, and to ensure compliance with program oversight by the FCC.  In the 1980s, the FCC eliminated these rules, first for radio, and then for television. At that time the FCC thought that market forces, in an increasingly competitive environment, would encourage broadcasters to accomplish this goal, and that certain rules were no longer necessary.  As a result of this reliance on market forces, the FCC indicated that it would no longer regulate how a broadcaster determined the needs and interests of its community, and would require a station only to maintain issues/programs lists of its most significant treatment of community issues, updated quarterly, in its public inspection file.

Media Ownership Debate Refocuses Light on Localism

In 2002 and 2003, the FCC conducted a biennial review of their media ownership rules. During this lengthy and large proceeding, millions of citizens filed comments at the FCC, demonstrating without a doubt that the public felt that broadcast stations were failing to meet the needs of their local communities. 

In response, the FCC created a "Localism Task Force", which has held town hall meetings around the country where thousands of citizens have voiced their concerns directly to FCC commissioners. It has also launched this proceeding in an effort to craft rules and policies that better serve the public interest. The FCC explains why they have launched this Localism NOI this way:

Given the importance of localism, we initiate this proceeding to receive direct input from the public on how broadcasters are serving the interests and needs of their communities; whether we need to adopt new policies, practices, or rules designed directly to promote localism in broadcast television and radio; and what those policies, practices, or rules should be.  For each of the public policy goals discussed below, we seek comment on the particular mechanism needed to ensure that licensees satisfy the stated goal.  We seek comment on whether market forces will provide enough incentive for a broadcast station to satisfy a particular policy goal, or whether regulation is needed.  Finally, we seek a similar range of comment on any other rules, policies or procedures, not specifically reviewed below, that might be relevant to our objectives.  [paragraph 7 of NOI]

Since issuing this document, the FCC has been collecting comments from all stakeholders and members of the public on localism in broadcasting.

Become a Participant

It’s essential that musicians, performers, journalists and citizens weigh on the topic of localism by submitting a written comment to the FCC. Past experience with the FCC has shown that the most useful comments are the ones that address the specific questions that the FCC has asked in its NOI so we have developed this guide to help folks craft comments that match the FCC's requests.

Remember: this is not a test – it is a guide. You do not need to fill in every box, just the ones where you feel like your personal experience will help the FCC to create better policies related to localism.

Click here to participate!

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