Midterm EEO Order Seen Being OK'd With Few Changes; Rosenworcel Nod Questionable
A draft FCC order that would eliminate a requirement for broadcaster midterm equal employment opportunity reports is widely expected to be approved with minimal changes at the agency’s Jan. 30 meeting -- if that meeting happens (see 1901160051), broadcasters and broadcast attorneys told us.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Though the February NPRM proposing eliminating the requirement drew no opposition filings, industry attorneys said it’s possible that Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel could vote to concur or dissent on the order, in line with concerns from 33 diversity groups that the order doesn’t address broad concerns with EEO enforcement (see 1901110036). Industry officials said they don’t expect the final order to change much from the draft version, and an FCC official said there doesn’t yet appear to be much back and forth about possible edits on the item. The FCC and Rosenworcel didn’t comment.
“We’re not trying to shoehorn anything,” said Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council Senior Adviser David Honig in an interview, responding to draft order language saying “far-reaching, substantive” changes to EEO enforcement are outside the proceeding's scope. The diversity groups -- which also include Common Cause, the National Urban League and the NAACP -- aren’t seeking new rules but more targeted EEO enforcement that would examine the employment diversity of broadcasters found to be relying on “word of mouth” rather than wide advertising to seek new employees, Honig said.
Broadcasters have said the proceeding is narrow and shouldn’t include wider issues. “It’s just about the form,” said Joshua Pila, Meredith general counsel-local media.
Rosenworcel expressed dissatisfaction that the FCC wasn’t looking deeper at EEO policies when she voted for the NPRM, and the effort to get the FCC to address more broadly how the agency enforces EEO rules is based on language in the original NPRM that Rosenworcel and then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn pushed to be included, Honig said. Industry officials said Rosenworcel’s past support for broader action on EEO means she might not vote to approve the item, though she has been receptive to previous media modernization items that got rid of unneeded filings.
The draft order would do away with a rule requiring broadcasters to file midterm EEO reports and stems from the FCC’s effort to eliminate unnecessary and outdated media rules. Since midterm EEO reports contain the same information as annual EEO reports, which are required to be available in broadcaster online public files, a separate midterm filing accompanying form isn't needed, the draft order said.
The only unique aspect of Form 397 is that it's the mechanism for radio stations to let the FCC know they have enough employees to be subject to midterm review, but the draft order would cover that gap by requiring stations to answer a staffing size question when uploading the annual report, it said. The current midterm report is “largely redundant,” the order said.
If the draft order isn’t approved and published in the Federal Register soon it could be years before it has any practical effect, said Pillsbury Winthrop broadcast attorney Scott Flick. Most broadcasters have completed their midterm EEO reports, and the last remaining few are due April 1, he said. Under the current rules, the next broadcaster EEO midterm reports won’t be due until 2023, said Flick.