wfn.org | Why Miami? UCC leaders say FCC complaints must be local

[powellb@ucc.org]

United Church of Christ
Barb Powell, press contact
216-736-2175
<powellb@ucc.org>
On the web: <http://www.ucc.org>

For immediate release
Dec. 10, 2004

Why Miami?
FCC complaints to deny licenses must be local, UCC leaders explain

      CLEVELAND ?? In filing a petition to deny the licenses of two Miami
area television stations, the United Church of Christ affirms FCC
guidelines that local license challenges are the best vehicle for the
viewing public to hold network broadcasters accountable for proper ? or
improper ? stewardship of the airwaves, church officials said today (Dec.
10).
      "Viewers cannot file complaints to deny licenses of networks, but
they can file complaints against local stations when people believe the
stations have not acted in the public interest," said the Rev. Robert
Chase, executive director of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc. (OC
Inc.), which filed the action on behalf of UCC members in the Miami area.
"Therefore, as local stations owned and operated by the networks, these two
Miami stations come to represent and reflect the ad policies implemented by
their respective networks."
      WFOR-TV (a CBS station) and WTVJ-TV (an NBC station) ? whose
operating licenses are currently up for FCC review ? are being challenged
because "there is substantial and material question" as to whether the
stations' parent companies, Viacom Inc. and the General Electric Company,
have operated the stations in the public interest, the petitions state.
      (In addition to owning the local stations, Viacom Inc. is the parent
company of the CBS network, while General Electric Company owns the NBC
network.)
      Licenses come up for renewal once every eight years. In the current
cycle, only stations in Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are
under review. That's why, church leaders argue, that owned-and-operated
stations in Florida ? where the ads would have been seen ? were the logical
place for UCC members to issue a challenge.
      Gloria Tristani, a former FCC commissioner (1997-2001) and managing
director of OC Inc., said, "It's important to remember that owned and
operated stations are, quite literally, owned and operated by their
respective networks. These two local stations bring the networks' damaging
decisions 'front and center' for those in the Miami viewing audience."
      "We believe the church has a strong case," said Tristani.
      In its petition, the United Church of Christ argues that, in addition
to the networks' silencing of the church's distinctive religious and moral
voice, it is "impractical, burdensome and expensive" for the networks to
reject the ads and then to intimate that the church could pursue ad buys in
each and every local CBS or NBC  market.
      "This is a matter of justice, plain and simple," said Bernice Powell
Jackson, executive minister of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries.
"For the networks to reject our advertising and then suggest that a
relatively small organization has the money and personnel to buy airtime in
nearly 300 different media markets is far-fetched at best. That's why
network advertising exists."
      Added Chase, "If you were asked to bring a case of soda to your
family reunion, you could buy it reasonably at a discount store or you
could feed $24 into vending machines and buy the bottles individually. But
I ask, 'Which would be the better use of your time and resources?'"
      "The fact that we did not ask the Miami stations if we could buy time
is beside the point, because we did ask the CBS and NBC networks to air the
commercials on their networks," Chase said. "No one who is seeking a
nationwide ad buy goes to one station at a time. As our filing states, this
would be 'impractical, burdensome and expensive.'"
      Tristani said that, in addition to legal rationale, "Miami is a city
rich with diversity. It represents the broad constituency of the United
Church of Christ and the diversity of races, ethnicities and cultures that
the church hopes to reach nationally through its advertising campaign."
      The UCC has set up a special website <accessibleairwaves.org> that
contains information about the FCC filing.
      The United Church of Christ is being represented legally by Angela J.
Campbell of the Georgetown University Law Center and Andrew Jay Schwartzman
of Media Access Project, both in Washington, D.C.

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