Need for FCC regulation could fade as media landscape evolves: Media expert

The FCC has been making more and more headlines. There's been calls from the president and some on

the right for the FCC to take action against what they see as biased or fake news across public

airwaves. There's also been some concern, largely from those on the left, over whether the FCC would

overreach its authority by making content decisions. Recently propelled after FCC Chair

Brendan Carr weighed in over the Jimmy Kimmel controversy, suggesting ABC should take him off air

which they ultimately did, but only briefly. With all the talk about the FCC, let's take a step back from the noise and look at the bigger

picture, what the Federal Communications Commission is responsible for, how it served

at different capacities as a regulatory enforcer over the years, and why one media law expert says

the changing media landscape we're in today could drastically change the FCC's role

Since the 30s, the FCC has had the authority to regulate broadcasters

including some forms of content regulation. David Oxenford is a broadcast and digital media law attorney

He spoke with Straight Arrow News about the long-standing history of the FCC

and how the agency has been at the center of free speech and public interest debates for many years

The FCC was established in 1934, installing a list of regulations and standards for radio and later TV broadcasters

prior to the 1980s. The FCC had some very strict requirements as to the number

The number of minutes of news reporting that stations had to do

The number of minutes of public affairs programming that stations had to do At this point in time broadcasters were also abiding what was called the Fairness Doctrine which was an FCC policy introduced in 1949 and required broadcasts to present controversial public issues

in a fair and balanced manner and requiring equal airtime to opposing viewpoints

And that was done away with 30 years ago because of the First Amendment concerns

Basically, the FCC determined, hey, we can't impose, after some court questions, we can't impose the fairness doctrine

We can't enforce the fairness doctrine consistent with our statutory obligation to stay out of First Amendment issues

While there were stricter FCC regulations in the immediate decades after it was established, a deregulation era took place in the 1980s under Republican President Ronald Reagan

repealing that fairness doctrine and also repealing other broadcast regulations, including ownership limits being loosened and public interest requirements easing

all in the name of free speech. There is a clear statutory requirement imposed by Congress that the FCC not

abridge the free speech rights of broadcasters. Since that era of deregulation 30 years ago

there have been questions over whether the rules and standards ease too much

Since then, there have been many questions raised at different points in time

as to whether the FCC should go back to some sort of quantitative requirements

or some more specific obligations to be imposed by broadcasters for their obligation to serve the needs and interests of their community

Broadcasters who have FCC licenses do have rules to follow One being they must operate in the public interest something that can be interpreted differently I think there are questions about whether the public interest itself

gives the FCC the authority to make up regulatory requirements that aren't set out by Congress

Throughout the FCC's history, there have been attempts to determine exactly what is in the public interest for broadcasters who are generally supposed to meet the needs and interests of the communities that they serve

Both Republican and Democratic administrations of recent have looked into the scope of the FCC's regulatory power

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, legislation that increased FCC fines for obscenity and indecency broadcasted on public airwaves

I think the last probably instance in where the FCC really captured the public imagination was in some of the indecency regulation that they have engaged in over the years

The Janet Jackson incident during the Super Bowl. That Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction directly coincided with Bush's legislation

Oxenford says there's been other more recent studies over whether FCC regulations should expand in the name of public interest

In the first part of the Obama administration, there was a big study commissioned about the informational needs of communities

Again, a big study was done, a report was put out, and then nothing happened because it's so hard

for the government to regulate what broadcasters should be doing consistent with the First Amendment It a double sword here enforcing public interest without infringing on free speech

And that's a tricky balance for the FCC. It's very difficult to adopt general rules that don't put the government in the position of assessing speech

to determine what is and is not in the public interest. Back in the 40s and 50s, radio and TV was a scarcity

Not everyone could broadcast. And because of that, the FCC said broadcasters had a special responsibility to the public

But Oxenford raises the question of whether today's changing media landscape could one day change that

There's questions today about whether that scarcity doctrine that justified regulation of broadcasters still applies

Broadcasting is no longer the single ubiquitous way, the way that everybody gets their news and information

People don't even have radios and over-the-air TVs in their homes. So whether any content regulation still makes sense for broadcasters, I think, is an open question and probably one that the courts will be addressing in the years ahead

So I think a lot of the justification for the FCC's regulation of broadcasting may over time disappear

Thank you for watching our news story. And thank you to David Oxenford for his time talking with us about an issue that is very relevant in today's news cycle

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