Nat. Council Churches blasts corp media monopolies

[Moses]

The National Council of Churches, founded in 1950, is the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 36 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African American and Living Peace member denominations include 45 million people in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

The statement from the Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches USA follows:

"The controversial issue here is not the content of the ad, but the arbitrary standards of the network gatekeepers. Church doors are open to all who would come; but broadcast channels are increasingly closed to all but the wealthy and well-connected.

"It is important to note that the broadcast networks are not being asked to give free time to the United Church of Christ to express its message -- the church is ready to pay dearly for that privilege, even though the networks do not pay for their highly profitable use of the broadcast spectrum.

"The Federal Communications Commission, in giving free access to the public's airwaves to commercial corporations--with virtually no strings attached--has handed them powerful control over America's media "public square." The for-profit keepers of that square are all too willing to promulgate messages laced with sexual innuendo, greed, violence, and the politics of personal destruction, but a message of openness and welcome that merely says 'church doors are open to all' is being silenced as too controversial!

"Advocacy advertising abounds on TV: agribusinesses, drug manufacturers, gambling casinos, oil companies, even some government agencies regularly expose viewers to messages advocating their products and programs, in the interest of shaping public attitudes and building support for their points of view.

"Are only the ideas and attitudes of faith groups now off limits? Constitutional guarantees of religious liberty and freedom of speech, not to mention common fairness, beg for leadership by the FCC to assure that America's faith community has full and equal access to the nation's airwaves, to deliver positive messages that seek to build and enrich the quality of
life."

Initial signers include the following:

Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr., president, National Council of Churches USA (Shreveport, La.)
Wesley M. Pattillo, associate general secretary for communication, NationalCouncil of Churches USA (New York, N.Y.)
Fr. Bernard R. (Bob) Bonnot, Roman Catholic author, producer (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Sr. Maureen Fiedler, SL, Ph.D., Host, Interfaith Voices (Washington, D.C.)
Jo Bales Gallagher, National Training Center for Resource Center Directors (Richmond, Va.)
Daniel Gangler, director of communications, Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Mike Hickox, director of communications, New England Conference of United Methodist Church (Lawrence, Mass.)
Larry Hollon, general secretary, United Methodist Communications (Nashville, Tenn.)
Vince Isner, director, FaithfulAmerica.org (Washington, D.C.)
N. J. L'Heureux, Jr., executive director, Queens Federation of Churches (Richmond Hill, N.Y.)
Kermit Netteburg, Seventh-day Adventist Church (Silver Spring, Md.)
John L. Peterson, communication director, The Interfaith Alliance (Washington D.C.)
David W. Reid, publisher, Vital Theology (Fort Collins, Colo.)
Eric C. Shafer, director for communication, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Chicago, Ill.)
Louis C. (Skip) Schueddig, president, The Episcopal Media Center (Atlanta, Ga.)
Nikki Stephanopoulos, director, News and Information, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (New York, N.Y.)
Shirley W. Struchen, executive director, Religion Communicators Council (New York, N.Y.)
Jerry L. Van Marter, news director, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Louisville, Ky.)
William C. Winslow, retired communications officer, United Church of Christ (New York, N.Y.)

Additional signers will be listed on the Commission's website,
www.ncccusa.org/about/comcomadvocacy.html

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News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., [phone] or
[e-mail].

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United Methodist News Service

[Moses]

FCC Complaints To Deny Licenses Must Be Local, UCC Leaders Explain

In filing a petition to deny the licenses of two Miami area television stations, the United Church of Christ affirms FCC guidelines that local license challenges are the best vehicle for the viewing public to hold network broadcasters accountable for proper – or improper – stewardship of the airwaves, church officials said Friday.

"Viewers cannot file complaints to deny licenses of networks, but they can file complaints against local stations when people believe the stations have not acted in the public interest," said the Rev. Robert Chase, executive director of the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc., which filed the action on behalf of UCC members in the Miami area. "Therefore, as local stations owned and operated by the networks, these two Miami stations come to represent and reflect the ad policies implemented by their respective networks."

WFOR-TV (a CBS station) and WTVJ-TV (an NBC station) – whose operating licenses are currently up for FCC review – are being challenged because "there is substantial and material question" as to whether the stations' parent companies, Viacom Inc. and the General Electric Company, have operated the stations in the public interest, the petitions state.

Gloria Tristani, a former FCC commissioner (1997-2001) and managing director of OC Inc., said, "It's important to remember that owned and operated stations are, quite literally, owned and operated by their respective networks. These two local stations bring the networks' damaging decisions 'front and center' for those in the Miami viewing audience.” She added, “We believe the church has a strong case.”

In its petition, the United Church of Christ argues that, in addition to the networks' silencing of the church's distinctive religious and moral voice, it is "impractical, burdensome and expensive" for the networks to reject the ads and then to intimate that the church could pursue ad buys in each and every local CBS or NBC market.

"This is a matter of justice, plain and simple," said Bernice Powell Jackson, executive minister of the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries. "For the networks to reject our advertising and then suggest that a relatively small organization has the money and personnel to buy airtime in nearly 300 different media markets is far-fetched at best. That's why network advertising exists."

Added Chase, "If you were asked to bring a case of soda to your family reunion, you could buy it reasonably at a discount store or you could feed $24 into vending machines and buy the bottles individually. But I ask, 'Which would be the better use of your time and resources?'"

Tristani said that, in addition to legal rationale, "Miami is a city rich with diversity. It represents the broad constituency of the United Church of Christ and the diversity of races, ethnicities and cultures that the church hopes to reach nationally through its advertising campaign."