wfn.org | UCC wants FCC to deny WorldCom licenses

[powellb@ucc.org]

Oct. 15, 2002
UCC Proclamation, Identity and Communication Ministry
Barb Powell, press contact
216-736-2175

Lack of corporate character cited: 'egregious conduct,' 'corporate
nihilism'

News Release By W. Evan Golder, 216-736-2177

      Washington, D.C. -- Stating that "character counts" in the corporate
world as well as for individuals, the Rev. Robert Chase, executive director
of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc., announced today (Oct. 15) that
OC Inc. is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to block the
transfer of federal licenses and authorizations that WorldCom uses for its
long-distance, Web and other services.
      The announcement took place at a Washington, D.C., press conference.
      Legally, the UCC action is two-fold: to file an objection to the
FCC's current Debtor-in-Possession procedure in relation to WorldCom, and
to file a Petition of Rulemaking to ask the FCC to undertake a Section 403
investigation under the Communications Act into industry-wide practices to
see "how we might halt the slide of some in the telecom industry into
corporate nihilism at the expense of the American people."
      At the same time, OC Inc. also called upon the FCC "to retake the
moral authority that has been ceded to, and abandoned by, the leaders of
WorldCom and to restore confidence in the telecommunications industry."

'Character counts'
      "In the digital age," Chase said in his statement, "stewardship of
the facilities that are essential to modern e-commerce and so many social
interactions must be handled by companies that are above reproach and that
can be trusted to operate in the public interest."
      He noted that WorldCom and other companies use the public airwaves
under public interest authorizations. As such, he said, they must be held
to the standard of behavior defined in the law and must maintain "a
corporate character that assures honest and effective stewardship."
      He stated confidence that the FCC investigation "will find that
WorldCom is unsuitable to ever again hold any of its operating licenses and
authorizations." Only the FCC, he said, "can send the clear signal to the
rest of the telecommunications world that WorldCom was and is grossly unfit
to serve as an Information Age steward."
      For the past few months, the media have been replete with examples of
WorldCom executives' unethical and illegal behavior. Initial reports were
that WorldCom executives fudged the books to record $3.8 million of costs
as assets; now that figure exceeds  $7 billion. "The only logical
conclusion ...," Chase said, "given the scope and scale of the egregious
conduct ..., is revocation of all WorldCom's FCC licenses and other
operating authorizations."

Storied history
      In the 1960s, the UCC earned its place in U.S. broadcasting history
by successfully challenging the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss., for
refusing to broadcast news and information about African Americans. This
action was taken by OC Inc., established by the Rev. Everett C. Parker,
then head of the UCC's Office of Communication, to protect the denomination
from legal action when it took prophetic risks in the name of justice.
      Chase recounted this history while explaining that initially the FCC
had denied OC Inc.'s WLBT petition, saying that it went beyond the scope of
what the law permitted. Nevertheless, he said, "subsequent court challenges
reversed the Commission, revoked the station's license, and gave the public
standing in such matters."
      "This case put industry decision-makers on notice that they could
never again ignore the very audience they were entrusted to serve," he
said. "The result was, literally, to change the way America looked at
itself."
      Following that decision, the UCC initiated proceedings before the FCC
to establish EEO guidelines and standards for recruitment and hiring that
held the broadcast industry, and later the cable industry, to a higher
standard than other sectors of society. This was, Chase said, "because of
the pervasive and profound influence that the media have on our way of
life."
      "Under these guidelines," he said, "the industry made great strides
towards opening the halls of power to women and people of color."

21st century technology
      Chase pointed out that information transmittal is to the 21st century
what broadcast was to the 20th century. "The conduits that transmit data
are increasingly replacing the broadcast media as central to how we
interact with one another," he said, "providing a means for commerce,
offering the diversity of voice in the marketplace of ideas so essential
for democracy, enhancing medical technology and transmitting confidential
medical records, supplementing educational outlets, shaping national
security.
      "The very fabric of our life together is sustained by how we share
ideas, express hopes and dreams, talk to one another," Chase said. "And,
increasingly, we talk to one another through data delivery systems."
      "For the United Church of Christ not to step forward into the ethical
void created by WorldCom would be a violation of our own legacy, our own
calling, to defend the public interest," he concluded.

The 1.4-million-member United Church of Christ, with national offices in
Cleveland, has more than 6,000 local churches in the United States and
Puerto Rico.

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