FCC has launched a major investigation

In response to a request from Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and two of his House colleagues, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it has launched an investigation into the negotiations between the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and the Writers Guild of America, East and west. In August 2006, Hinchey and his colleagues asked the FCC to look into CBS’s desire to consolidate newsrooms, terminate workers in the event of mergers, and remove news producers from bargaining units, thus enabling corporate interests to infiltrate the newsroom. Since then, CBS has conceded and taken the issue of removing news producers from bargaining units off the table in negotiations, but the consolidation issue remains.

“You requested that the FCC ‘conduct a review of this situation and its impact on public discourse.’ The Commission has contacted the CBS Television Network, as well as the Writers Guild of America East and west, to request a report on the situation and will report to you on its findings once we have heard from the parties,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wrote in a letter to Hinchey.
“I am very pleased that the FCC has finally agreed to examine the negotiations between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, East and west,” Hinchey said. “I hope that the FCC will ensure that corporate interests stay out of newsrooms so that the American public can be on the receiving end of journalism, not direct or indirect corporate promotion. As the owners of the airwaves, the American people deserve a free, open, and diverse media. Any further consolidation of newsrooms and attacks on journalists would be contrary to the best interests of the public. I hope that the FCC looks carefully at these negotiations to ensure that journalists are protected and able to do their job properly.”

CBS and the Writers Guild of America, East and west are currently engaged in contract negotiations that would extend their 50-year working relationship in New York, Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Joining Hinchey in sending the letter to Chairman Martin in August to request the investigation were Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-CA) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Hinchey is the author of the Media Ownership Reform Act (MORA), which would restore fairness in broadcasting, reduce media concentration, ensure that broadcasters meet their public interest requirements, and promote diversity, localism, and competition in American media. The congressman intends to reintroduce MORA in the coming weeks.