FCC loses in court, judges say agency would fail “intro statistics class” Court: FCC repeal of media ownership limits ignored impact on women and minorities.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/fcc-ignored-women-and-minorities-in-plan-to-allow-media-mergers-court-rules/
Federal judges yesterday issued a stinging rebuke to the Federal Communications Commission, saying the agency’s justification for eliminating media-ownership limits “would receive a failing grade in any introductory statistics class.”
The FCC’s 2017 decision to eliminate newspaper/broadcast and television/radio cross-ownership rules could allow more media mergers. But the FCC order was vacated in a 2-1 vote by a panel of judges at the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judges wrote that the FCC “did not adequately consider the effect its sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women and racial minorities.”
The “most glaring” problem in the FCC analysis is that it “cited no evidence whatsoever regarding gender diversity,” the judges wrote. The FCC claimed in a court filing that “no data on female ownership was available” yet also “purport[ed] to have complied with our instructions to consider both racial and gender diversity, repeatedly framing its conclusion in terms that encompass both areas,” judges wrote.
FCC Democrats applaud court ruling
Republican FCC commissioners Brendan Carr and Michael O’Rielly also issued statements criticizing the court ruling yesterday. The commission’s two Democrats supported the court decision, however.
“The court rightly sent the FCC’s handiwork back to the agency because the FCC’s analysis was so ‘insubstantial,'” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said. “The FCC shouldn’t be in the business of cutting corners when it comes to honoring our long-held values when updating media ownership policies.”
“A failing grade”
The FCC’s 2017 order had to consider instructions from previous Third Circuit decisions that went against the commission. But the FCC did not comply with the court’s instructions, the judges’ ruling said.