NEW DELHI, September 8: A new report has provided compelling evidence of a link between media consolidation and broadcast indecency in the US. As leading broadcasters such as Clear Channel Communications and Viacom Inc’s Infinity Broadcasting have bought more stations, they have frequently replaced local programming with shock jocks such as Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge, which are prone to vulgarity.
The study was conducted by the Washington-based Center for Creative Voices in Media and Fordham University's Donald McGannon Communication Research Center. The report – "Ownership Concentration and Indecency in Broadcasting: Is There a Link?" – is a preliminary investigation into the connection between ownership concentration and indecency, focusing on radio broadcasting from 2000 to 2003.
Since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, ownership of the radio and television stations in the US has become increasingly concentrated. Over the same period, many citizens and policymakers have expressed concern over a perceived rise in the broadcasting of offensive material. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) levied nearly twice as many fines for broadcasting indecent content from 2000 to 2003 as it did in all of the 1990s.
"Indecency on the airwaves and consolidation of station and programme ownership are linked," said Jonathan Rintels, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media and co-author of the new report. "Our research suggests that increased indecency is an unintended consequence of the deregulation of media ownership."
Among the findings of the report were:
- Ninety-six percent of the FCC indecency fines from 2000 to 2003 were levied against four of the nation's largest radio station ownership groups: Clear Channel, Viacom, Entercom and Emmis.
- The percentage of overall indecency fines incurred by these four companies was nearly double their 48.6 percent share of the national audience.
- In contrast, the 11,750 other US radio stations not owned by these companies –88 per cent of the country's stations – received just four FCC indecency violations.
- Eighty-two percent of the radio programs that generated FCC indecency fines were owned by large, vertically integrated radio station ownership groups.
"There has been much speculation among policymakers that indecency and ownership concentration might be related," said Professor Philip M. Napoli of Fordham University, co-author of the report. "This study provides evidence that such a relationship may in fact exist and certainly warrants further investigation. We hope this study will encourage additional research into this relationship."
The report questions the FCC's current approach to policing indecency and warns of the potential "chilling effect" on constitutionally protected speech posed by "Consent Decrees" that the commission reached in 2004 with Clear Channel, Viacom and Emmis. The authors call for new policies that balance threats to the First Amendment and the concerns of local communities about offensive content.
"While many today call for exponentially increasing indecency fines, the report shows that a better way to address the problem of indecency on America's airwaves may be to reconsider deregulation," Rintels said. "The public and the First Amendment might be better served if policymakers reintroduce meaningful station ownership caps, limit vertical integration of program ownership, and promote localism and diversity of voices in our nation's media."
"Many officials who oppose indecency are pursuing policies to make big media even bigger," said Robert McChesney, founder and president of Free Press, which helped produce the report. "You can't have it both ways. This study adds to an overwhelming body of evidence that shows media consolidation is bad for American communities."
[Copies of this report can be downloaded from Center for Creative Voices in Media or from Free Press .]
