COMMENTARY
Broadcast media duopoly rule preserves marketplace diversity
By Gerald Kato and Sean McLaughlin
American democracy celebrates the values of diversity, competition and community in the mass media.
"The press in our free country is reliable and useful not because of its good character but because of its great diversity," the essayist E. B. White once observed.
"As long as there are many owners, each pursuing his own brand of truth, we the people have the opportunity to arrive at the truth and to dwell in the light. The multiplicity of ownership is crucial."
That's why the current trend toward greater and greater consolidation of radio and television stations across the country is alarming. Even more alarming is that Hawai'i may be the staging ground for an assault on the so-called "duopoly rule" of the Federal Communications Commission.
The duopoly rule is designed to protect the public interest by encouraging competition and ensuring diversity of broadcast ownership. Requiring a minimum of diversity in the marketplace of ideas is accomplished by limiting control of the top four TV stations.
Since September 2000, two of the top-rated TV stations in the Hawai'i market, KHON-TV (Fox) and KGMB-TV (CBS), are owned by a single company, Emmis Communications. Emmis, which operates out of Indiana, acquired KGMB when it bought out the television properties of Lee Enterprises. Conclusion of the sale to Emmis required a temporary waiver of the duopoly rule. More than two years ago this direct violation of ownership restrictions began, and it continues today.
The public record indicates the FCC tentatively waived the rule and allowed this temporary joint ownership based on a promise by Emmis to sell one of the stations.
In May 2002, more than 18 months after it promised to sell one of the Hawai'i stations, Emmis changed its position and started to argue against the duopoly rule. In July 2002, Emmis appointed a single executive to run the TV duopoly. Shortly thereafter, newsroom staffs of KHON-Fox and KGMB-CBS were informed that they'd be sharing photographers for some news stories. Now the stations are working together in many other ways.
Keep in mind that the broadcast media are not free-market industries, and barriers such as the duopoly rule were created to protect the "public interest" requirements established for use of the public airwaves. Emmis is representing the interests of broadcast licensees who received their FCC license with little or no compensation to the public even though the spectrum bandwidth used by these broadcasters is a public resource.
Essentially, we have a situation where private interests have bought and sold a public license so that the current license holder has paid a huge price for that license, providing a large profit to the seller, although the public does not get any benefit from the sale. The inflated license cost, and the associated debt burden, actually increases pressure to cut local operating costs, such as local news and public affairs.
In fact, local TV journalism in Hawai'i had its employer base reduced by 25 percent, from four news operations to three, as a result of Emmis' continued ownership of both KHON and KGMB. Allowed to continue, this unregulated duopoly will inevitably silence one independent news organization in Hawai'i's limited marketplace of ideas. The viewing public and broadcast journalists in Hawai'i now suffer because of the withering of that independent voice.
Rick Blangiardi, senior vice president for Emmis Communications, has offered up a forceful defense of the plan.
For instance, he told the Honolulu Community-Media Council and the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists that his interest is in making the news operations better, indeed, making it possible for both to compete against each other at a higher level.
Blangiardi bemoans the state of television news in Hawai'i, saying it has declined over the years and doesn't come close to serving the public. Blangiardi offers the possibility of more and better news by allowing the duopoly to work its magic and improving the bottom line for both stations, which, as he candidly says, is the "top line."
Blangiardi's promise may unwittingly reveal the problem. No doubt Blangiardi is sincere in his desire to upgrade both news operations, which have been starved for resources. But at the end of the day, the bottom line is the top line. News is not profitable, and a top-notch news and public-affairs operation requires a big commitment of resources. With greater economic control of the television market, there's little incentive to commit such resources.
The broadcast industry has long argued that the advent of new technology such as cable television and the Internet expands the opportunities for diverse voices in the marketplace, so there's no longer any justification for ownership regulations. But while the number of electronic outlets may be increasing, so is the concentration of ownership. You don't have to look much beyond the merger of AOL-Time Warner (owners of CNN and most of the cable channels we watch in Hawai'i) and the recent mega-merger between Comcast and AT&T Broadband, the nation's largest cable TV company.
We in Hawai'i have an especially keen concern about diversity of broadcast voices because broadcasting remains an important influence on local elections. CNN and the Internet aren't substitutes for local broadcast news. The quality and quantity of the local coverage may be subject to debate, but diversity in the marketplace assures that there will be diversity in coverage of what's going on locally.
The FCC is reviewing the duopoly rule. The Society of Professional Journalists in Hawai'i and the Honolulu Community-Media Council have filed objections to the duopoly and requested that the FCC hold Emmis to its original promise to sell one station. Hawai'i residents should contact the FCC and Hawai'i's congressional delegation to register their concerns. At stake are Hawai'i's unique cultural landscapes and the fragile public interest that diverse broadcast voices represent.
Gerald Kato is a former journalist, founder of Open City TV and a journalism professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
Sean McLaughlin was the first telecommunications director for the Honolulu City Council and is a founder of 'Olelo: Community TV, and since 1997 has been president and chief executive of Akaku: Maui Community TV.
