Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission 1990
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 507-512 |
Page 507
Petitioner: Metro Broadcasting, Inc.
Respondent: Federal Communications Commission
Petitioner's Claim: That FCC programs designed to increase minority ownership of broadcast licenses violate the principle of equal protection.
Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Gregory H. Guillot
Chief Lawyer for Respondent: Daniel M. Armstrong
Justices for the Court: Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White
Justices Dissenting: Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia
Date of Decision: June 27, 1990
Decision: Ruled in favor of the FCC by finding that its minority ownership policies did not violate equal protection.
Significance: For the first time the Court endorsed a federal program intended to promote increased minority participation, rather than merely remedy past racial discrimination. The opportunity to broadcast opinions of racial minorities benefits not only minorities, but the public in general.
Page 508
Historically in the United States, the broadcasting or media communications industry (newspapers, radio, television) reflected the white American's world. For example, little appreciation or understanding of black American culture, thought, or history was communicated. A 1968 report by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders noted, "The world that television and newspapers offer to their black audience is almost totally white." Minorities, including not only black Americans but also Hispanics, Orientals, and Native Americans, rarely saw their viewpoints expressed over the airways.
In the Communication Act of 1934, Congress assigned authority to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to grant licenses to persons wishing to construct and operate radio broadcast stations in the United States. The act also encouraged the FCC to promote diversification (a variety of viewpoints representing all citizens) of programming. The FCC used various strategies to attract minority participation but little broadcast diversity resulted. To try harder, the FCC in 1978 adopted a "Statement of Policy on Minority Ownership of Broadcast Facilities." Intended to increase minority ownership of broadcast licenses, the statement outlined two FCC policies, known as the minority preference or ownership policies. First, in selecting companies applying for licenses, the FCC would give special consideration to radio or television stations owned or managed by minority groups. Race would be one of several factors looked at. Secondly, the FCC would permit a broadcaster in danger of losing its license, known as a "distressed" broadcaster, to transfer that license through a "distress sale" to an FCC-approved minority company thereby avoiding a FCC hearing on their suitability. The license sale price could not exceed 75 percent of its fair market value. Despite these FCC's efforts, by 1986 minorities still only...
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