The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

FCC Commissioner Calls for National Debate on Communications Issues

Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 9/25/2002

The Federal Communications Commission's Equal Employment Opportunity rules; its media ownership rules; access to advanced telecommunications services; and the public interest obligations of digital television broadcasters are important matters worthy of a national debate, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps told attendees of this year's Everett Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture. The Office of Communication, Inc. of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Telecommunications Research and Action Center co-sponsored the event, the twentieth in the series.

The Parker Lecture was created in 1983 in recognition of Parker's pioneering work as an advocate for the public's rights in broadcasting. Parker is the founding director of the UCC's Office of Communication. Early in the 1960s, he worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Rev. Andrew Young, and the NAACP in Jackson, Mississippi to end the racist ownership of a television station there. As recently as this past summer, Parker testified before the FCC on equal opportunity rules for broadcast and cable.

Noting that the same ethics and vision that Parker brought to earlier front lines are "equally imperative" today, Copps called for:

• Strong and effective equal employment opportunity rules, as an "essential part of broadcasters' obligation to serve the public interest;"
  
• A national dialogue "in Congress, at the Commission, among concerned industries, and all across America", on the Commission's media ownership rules:
  
• An increased role of media industries in highlighting and informing the debate on media ownership;
  
• Reactivating and bringing to conclusion the pending proceedings on digital television;
  
• Answering the public interest questions raised by the Advisory Committee Report on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters.
  

The event also featured:

• Wade Henderson, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, as recipient of the Everett C. Parker Award, given to an individual whose work embodies the principles and values of the public interest in telecommunications.
  
• Judy Woodruff, Prime Anchor and Senior Correspondent of CNN cable news network, as recipient of the Donald H. McGannon award in recognition of special contributions in advancing the role of people of color in media.