Updated June 29 with a clarification on self-inspection resources. The FCC document dates from 2003, but offers the agency’s perspective on self-inspection. The LPFM checklist from Recnet is updated to current regulations.
Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez sat down with WIRED for a half-hour interview, showing how far she’s come since she started her First Amendment tour last year and appearing as the keynote speaker for the Grassroots Radio Conference in Spokane.
Noisy Reality’s Jim Dingeman hosts Gretchen King on the challenges and value of community radio, which she calls one of the most affordable mediums for both producers and listeners.
In this one-hour discussion, a panel of experts explores the FCC chairman’s framework to go after broadcasters—and the idea that they have only a “junior-varsity level” rights to freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of Senators filed a bill to end the practice of “jawboning,” using the inherent power of the chairman’s office to get concessions that aren’t available through lawful means.
The effort to send 200,000 letters demanding Carr’s impeachment pushes on.
The FCC opened a comment period on the early license renewal for ABC and its eight network-owned licenses. ABC, in turn, has appealed directly to its viewers for support in the battle to sustain itself, triggering a flood of messages that include this high-powered comment from PEN America.
That old adage “freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one” may apply more than ever these days. Mega-media mergers have long been understood as bad for journalism and democracy because of their effect on the entire information ecosystem, yet the downward pressure on small outlets to find a financial partner seems to be on the rise.
Semipublic’s Alex Curley watches public media closely and looks for commonalities in the mergers between WGBH and New England Public Media, between WHYY and WPSU, and between KUNC and Rocky Mountain Public Media and offered an analysis in Editor and Publisher:
... there’s vulnerability in being a small, independent public media broadcaster, financial or otherwise, which makes merging with a larger organization appealing. Additionally, broadcasters with both television and radio stations seem more willing to take a risk by acquiring a smaller broadcaster, as opposed to those that only operate radio or television stations. And finally, the most obvious one, physical proximity.
Since Curley wrote that analysis, Lehigh University sold WLVR to Lehigh Valley Public Media. The NPR affiliate was broadcasting at 91.3 FM and was transferred to LVPM after it had operated the station for the university since 2019. LVPM will purchase the FCC license as part of the deal.
This Inside Radio report triggers concerns about the welfare and editorial independence of KUT, an NPR affiliate based at the University of Texas.
With so little resistance at the federal level for the Ellison family to add Warner Bros. to its media empire with Paramount, attorneys general in California, New York, and possibly other states are expected to file suit to block the merger.
Neiman Lab at Harvard University says new research suggests how best to disclose AI usage to listeners.
It’s becoming clearer that human involvement is considered a sign of professional responsibility and accountability — essential currency in an age of media distrust. — Neiman Lab
Here are two lists to help with a station self-inspection: a document from the FCC and another from REC Networks for LPFM. (Clarification: The FCC document dates from 2003, but offers the agency’s perspective on self-inspection. The LPFM checklist from Recnet is updated to current regulations.)
Communications Act of 1934, Sect. 326.
Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.
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