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[powellb@ucc.org]

Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. (OC, Inc.)
Barb Powell, press contact
216-736-2175
<powellb@ucc.org>
<http://www.ucc.org>

In Washington, D.C., contact:
Gloria Tristani
(202) 263-2586
<tristang@ucc.org>

For immediate release
April 28, 2005


‘Changing Channels’ panel urges the public to ‘keep on and fight’ for 
media justice

By Barb Powell
UCC OC, Inc.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – An April 21 book-signing event for a recently-published 
account of a 1960s civil rights case that changed how the airwaves are 
viewed signaled to those present that the fight for media advocacy remains 
as urgent and poignant today as it was 40 years ago.

“Changing Channels: The Civil Rights Case that Transformed Television,” by 
Kay Mills, tells the story of the license renewal challenge brought by the 
United Church of Christ against television station WLBT in Jackson, Miss., 
in 1964. The UCC, led by then-communication director the Rev. Everett C. 
Parker, challenged the station’s license renewal for the station’s failure 
to serve the substantial African-American population in Jackson. Indeed, 
the station had gone so far as to block national network programming 
featuring then-NAACP General Counsel Thurgood Marshall. When viewers tuned 
in to see the network coverage, all they saw on the screen was a “cable 
trouble” message. After the Federal Communications Commission renewed the 
license, the UCC went to court. On the second appeal, the D.C. Circuit 
Court revoked WLBT’s license.

The landmark case put broadcasters on notice that they needed to hire more 
persons of color and cover their communities more accurately and fairly. 
It also established the right of U.S. citizens to challenge the license 
renewals of broadcast stations that do not meet community needs.

“Everett Parker is one of my heroes,” said FCC Commissioner Michael J. 
Copps, who attended the book signing and panel discussion at the 
Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. “The publication of 
this book is timely … While we celebrate victories tonight, the same 
battle goes on now. If we don’t use the opportunities we have right now to 
continue this fight, then we shouldn’t be surprised that we get the 
broadcasting without the kind of public interest obligations that we need. 
The battle now has moved to the media consolidation and ownership issues.”

The precedent-setting subject of Mills’ book began simply, the result of a 
chance meeting at a luncheon, said Parker, who was part of the panel. One 
of the UCC mission boards hosted a meal for the Rev. Martin Luther King 
Jr. According to Parker, King looked at Parker and said, “Why don’t you do 
something about the way the stations treat us in the South?” 

Today, Parker said, “it’s really important that we keep on and fight.”

“Rev. Parker is a revolutionary. He took on forces of government and 
corporate power and cobbled together a united action fight with people who 
had no clue what he was talking about half the time, but they did know the 
rightness of the course,” added panel member Randall Pinkston, a CBS News 
correspondent who grew up in Jackson, Miss. Pinkston was one of the first 
beneficiaries of the affirmative action hiring push by WLBT when, as a 
young college student attending Millsaps College, he was hired by the 
station. 

The panel discussion also featured author Mills; Professor Angela 
Campbell, director of the Citizens Communications Center Project of the 
Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center; 
and former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, currently managing director 
of OC Inc.

“‘Changing Channels’ reiterates the power of ordinary citizens to do the 
right thing in our society,” said Tristani after the event. “Thanks to 
these individuals working with OC, Inc. in the 1960s, today we have court 
and FCC rulings stating that television stations must operate in the 
public interest and are directly accountable to the communities they 
serve. With this foundation, our advocacy to ensure equal voice for all in 
the mass media can continue.”

The OC, Inc. case had far-reaching ramifications, seen sometimes in 
unexpected places. “The Citizens Communication Center [of Georgetown’s 
Institute for Public Representation] was founded as a direct result of 
this case,” panelist Campbell told the crowd. She noted that OC, Inc. and 
the Institute are still partners in advocating for media access and 
accountability.

Reflected author Mills, “Nobody gave the church a chance to win. This was 
a classic ‘David and Goliath’ story and, like the Bible, David won.”

The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. (OC, 
Inc.) was established in 1959 by the Rev. Everett C. Parker. Throughout 
its history, OC, Inc. has advocated for persons historically excluded from 
the media, especially women and persons of color; petitioned the FCC to 
issue EEO rules; sought to guarantee educational and informational 
children’s programming; defended the Equal Time Rule for political 
candidates; supported efforts to establish low-power FM radio; protected 
affordable access to emerging technologies; and urged strengthening of 
basic corporate character requirements for those who transmit images and 
data.

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