The Clinton administration proved this week that it's nothing if not a glutton for irony. As the White House began its search for a committee to determine broadcasters' public-interest obligations in the digital age, TV execs were hoping they might see someone with objective views about current programming heading the panel. Or at least someone who's not unfriendly.
Instead, the White House is reportedly leaning toward former FCC chairman Newton Minow, who in 1961 called network programming a "vast wasteland" and seven years later headed a bipartisan study that recommended forcing broadcasters to provide free air time to political candidates.
Does any of this sound familiar? Just ask current FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, who has been pounding at broadcasters for months to offer free air time to politicians and pushed for all kinds of content obligations for children's television programs, public service announcements, you name it.
And here's the best part. This committee is supposed to present its findings in mid-1998, right when Hundt's term is set to end. Add all this up, and many broadcasters think they see the White House salting a 36-year-old wound and giving Hundt his opening for one last shot.
"This is the final parting shot at broadcasters," said one broadcast industry lobbyist who requested anonymity. "It's clear what's going on here."
On the surface, anyway, Hundt actually has nothing to do with the committee, which is being coordinated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a branch of the Commerce Department.
Even though the committee will be a separate administration animal, the FCC is intimately involved in the public-interest debate. In fact, Hundt plans to finish an extensive "notice of inquiry" on setting new obligations by the time broadcasters start digital TV transmissions next year. The White House committee's findings likely will pop up somewhere in the FCC's final reasoning, now that Minow is in the running to put broadcasters' feet to the public fire.
It should be noted that Minow, now 71, has mellowed in recent years. He has settled into a law practice in Chicago and even served several years on the boards of CBS and the Tribune Company, which owns a bunch of broadcast stations. He resigned from the Tribune post last May.
But Minow has plenty of fire left. Just Wednesday, he gave a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago in which he again called on broadcasters to give free air time for political candidates in return for all that free digital spectrum they're getting. So now the question among broadcasters has become: Minow or shark?
