BROADCASTERS GIVE THOUSANDS WHILE LOBBYING CONGRESS ON OWNERSHIP
In the days following the FCC’s decision on new media ownership rules, some broadcasters made substantial donations to the election campaigns of key members of Congress with oversight of the FCC, records show. In particular, 2 companies that stand to gain from relaxed ownership rules, Clear Channel and News Corp., both increased their donations in June over previous years. Since the FCC’s June 2 vote, much of the debate over ownership has shifted to Congress, where there’s an ongoing effort to overturn the FCC’s rules. The congressional committees that most often deal with such issues include Commerce and Appropriations, but Judiciary also has a role at times and we found that many of the donations were focused on members of those committees. The public records are somewhat limited, however, since campaign donations have to be reported the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) only on a quarterly basis. The latest records available end June 30.
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Broadcast industry sources said several factors may have contributed to a spike in donations besides media ownership. Some said the new ban on soft money has forced companies to be more active in pressing employees for contributions to company political action committees (PACs). Some companies have been much more aggressive about educating employees to the benefits of making contributions to candidates who look favorably upon issues affecting the company, sources said. Also, Clear Channel only recently opened Washington offices, perhaps making it easier for campaigns to call upon those PACs for donations.
The NAB’s political action committee (PAC) gave many contributions this June, though not as many as in previous years. Among those following the June 2 vote were: $500 to Sen. Brownback (R-Kan.) and $1,000 to Sen. Burns (R-Mont.), who are both on Commerce and Appropriations; $1,000 each to Rep. Cannon (R-Utah) and Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.) on Judiciary; $1,000 each to Rep. Deal (R-Ga.) and Rep. Ferguson (R-N.J.) on Commerce; $1,000 to Help America’s Leaders PAC (HALPAC), which is a GOP PAC; $1,500 to Sen. Lieberman’s presidential campaign fund; $1,000 to Sen. Mikulski (D-Md.) on Appropriations; $1,000 to Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.) on Commerce; $2,000 to Rep. Nethercutt (R-Wash.) on Appropriations; $5,000 to Rep. Oxley (R-O.), chmn. of the Financial Services Committee; and $1,000 to Rep. Wynn (D-Md.) on Commerce. For comparisons sake, NAB spent $27,100 in June on 26 contributions. In June 2002, an election year, NAB spent $75,350 on 34 donations. In June 2001, perhaps a more comparable period, the NAB spent $49,500 on 42 contributions.
One day following the FCC’s vote, Clear Channel, which under the new rules would be limited to some degree from growing larger but could keep stations it currently has that are over the limits, also gave a series of contributions. Among them were $1,000 to the campaign committee of Rep. Burr (R-N.C.), who’s on Commerce. Later in the month, Clear Channel gave $1,000 to Rep. Dingell (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Commerce Committee, $2,000 to Sen. Shelby (R- Ala.) on Appropriations and $1,000 to Sen. Specter (R-Pa.), also on Appropriations. Additional donations include: $15,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; $2,500 to Impact America, a GOP political action committee (PAC); and $2,000 to Volunteer Pac, another GOP PAC. Clear Channel gave $36,000 in the month of June in 11 contributions. In June 2002, the company gave 7 totaling $16,500. In June 2001, the company gave only 2 worth $3,000. All calls on this subject were referred to Clear Channel Senior Vp-Govt. Relations Andrew Levin, who was traveling and unavailable for comment.
News Corp., which is over the old ownership limits, on June 2 gave $1,000 to Sen. Landrieu (D-La.) on Appropriations and $5,000 to Rep. Thomas (R-Cal.), the powerful chmn. of Ways & Means. Two days after the ownership vote, News Corp. gave $1,000 to Rep. Cannon on Judiciary. Other donations since the ownership vote include: $3,000 to Sen. Breaux (R- La.) on Commerce; $10,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; $2,000 to Sen. Dodd (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Rules and Administration Committee; $1,000 to Rep. Becerra on Ways & Means; $1,000 each to Reps. Feeney (R-Fla.) and Hart (R-Pa.) on Judiciary; and $2,500 to Goodlatte on Judiciary. News Corp. spent $34,500 on 15 contributions in June, compared with $19,710 on 16 in June 2002, and just $2,000 on 2 in June 2001.
News Corp. Senior Vp-Govt. Relations Michael Regan said the company has “ramped up” its PAC in recent years because company officials realized that News Corp. was not as politically active in past years and wanted to be more actively involved in “the political process.” Regan said the contributions weren’t targeted to one specific issue, that in addition to media ownership, there was copyright, spectrum and other issues Congress must deal with that affect News Corp. “It may look like in a graph that you see spike but it’s not,” Regan said. “We're really just trying to be more politically involved.” Regan said the soft money ban did give the company incentive to educate employees about the benefits of making contributions. “It just gave us all the more incentive to build a strong PAC,” he said.
Viacom, which is above the old ownership gap and would stand to benefit if the FCC’s decision to raise the cap to 45% were to stick, gave $2,500 to Rep. Goodlatte (R-Va.) and $1,000 to Rep. Schiff, (D-Cal.) on Judiciary; $1,000 to Rep. Oxley; $1,000 to Becerra; and gave $1,000 each to Commerce Committee members Norwood, Pickering (R-Miss.), Rep. Stearns, (R-Fla.), and Rep. Walden, (R-Ore.). Viacom gave a total of about $19,500 in June, compared with $23,500 in June 2002 and $89,850 in June 2001.
NBC owner GE could stand to grow if the FCC’s new rules hold firm. The company has been extremely generous since June 2 to a variety of congressional members, though not more so than the previous year. Among those benefitting this June were Sen. Allen (R-Va.), who sits on the Commerce Committee and got $1,000, and Sens. DeWine (R-O.) and Specter, who each got $1,000 and sit on Appropriations. The PAC of Sen. Domenici (R-N.M) on the Appropriations Committee received $5,000 from GE on June 3. In the House, Becerra received $1,000, as did Reps. Hulshof (R-Mo.) and Jefferson (D-La.), while Rep. Collins (R-Ga.) received $2,500. On House Appropriations, on June 3, GE gave $1,000 to Rep. Emerson (R- Mo.), and $1,000 to Reps. Bishop (D-Ga.), Kirk (R-Ill.), Simpson (R-Idaho), and Sweeney (R-N.Y.).
On the House Commerce Committee, GE gave $1,000 donations to Reps. Fossella (R-N.Y.), John (D-La.), and Whitfield (R-Ky.) on June 3. On House Judiciary, Reps. Goodlatte and Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), each got $1,000. GE also gave $7,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $7,500 to the Democratic National Committee. The GOP PAC Impact America got $1,000. The General Electric Political Action Committee (PAC), which represents NBC and GE’s other companies, gave a total of $83,250 this June, compared with roughly $119,000 in June 2002, which was an election year, and $39,720 in June 2001, which arguably is a more comparable period.
Disney, which had plenty of room to grow under the old ownership cap and arguably, could better compete with the likes of News Corp. and Viacom if the old cap were to remain in place, gave $4,000 to Rep. Keller (R-Fla.) of Judiciary; $1,500 to Rep. Harman (D-Cal.) of Commerce; $2,000 to Sen. Shelby; $2,500 to Goodlatte; $3,000 to Breaux; $2,000 to Rep. Schiff; $5,000 to Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) of Commerce; $1,000 to Rep. Wexler (D-Fla.) of Judiciary; $2,500 to Sen. Bond (R-Mo.) of Appropriations; and $1,000 to Sen. Cochran (R-Miss.) of Appropriations. Disney actually gave more last year during the same period. In June 2003, the company gave 15 contributions totaling $29,000, and in June 2002 gave 20 totaling $39,500. In June 2001, Disney gave 16 contributions worth $27,500. The company has a policy of giving comparable amounts to Democrats and Republicans. Also, the company, while supportive of deregulation, has taken a noticeably low profile on ownership, compared with the other networks, since it would appear the company has little to gain from the higher ownership cap.
Asked about our findings, Media Access Project Pres. Andrew Schwartzman said that’s why his group supports campaign finance reform “to deal with additional problems in money and politics. Money is too much a part of politics for everybody. Far from being surprised, it’s exactly what we would expect.” Schwartzman said it’s often the case that contributions “don’t obtain complete loyalty” from the recipient, but they do buy access. Mark Cooper, research dir. of Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said money has and always will have some influence but believes that the amount of popular backing his and other groups have for fighting media consolidation could outweigh the power of money in this instance. “American politics is driven by three things, money, media and the masses. They've got the money and the media, and we've got the masses,” Cooper said.