In Re Equal Employment
Opportunities Inquiries Sent to Selected Stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Mississippi
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
41 F.C.C.2d 599
JUNE 19, 1973
OPINION:
[*599] THE COMMISSION,
BY COMMISSIONERS BURCH (CHAIRMAN), H. REX LEE, REID AND WILEY, WITH
COMMISSIONER HOOKS CONCURRING, AND COMMISSIONER
JOHNSON DISSENTING AND ISSUING A STATEMENT, ISSUED THE FOLLOWING NEWS
RELEASE: EEO INQUIRIES SENT TO SELECTED STATIONS IN ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, AND
MISSISSIPPI.
Equal employment opportunity (EEO)
inquiries have been sent to 19 stations in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi
following a review of their 1971-72 Annual Employment Reports (FCC Form
395). The license terms for these stations expired June 1, 1973.
The stations selected for review had
more than ten fulltime employees, but no fulltime women employees, or showed a
decline in their number. In areas with minority populations of 5 percent
or more, they employed no fulltime members of minority groups or showed a
decline in this category.
These are the same criteria used
when the Commission reviewed the EEO programs of licensees in Delaware,
District of Columbia, Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama and Georgia.
The Commission deferred action on
the renewal applications of the following stations, pending resolution of the
inquiry.
KLRA, Little Rock, Ark.
KSLO, KSLO-FM, Opelousas, La.
KTLO, KTLO-FM, Mountain Home, Ark.
KXLR, North Little Rock, Ark.
WDAL, WDAL-FM, Meridian, Miss.
WELO, WELO-FM, Tupelo, Miss.
WJBO, WJBO-FM, Baton Rouge, La.
WJDX, WZZQ(FM), Jackson, Miss.
WOKK, WALT(FM), Meridian, Miss.
WVMI, WVMI-FM, Biloxi, Miss.
KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, La.
DISSENT:
DISSENTING OPINION OF COMMISSIONER
NICHOLAS JOHNSON
Four years after the passage of the
1964 Civil Rights Act, the FCC promulgated equal employment regulations for
broadcasters, Nondiscrimination Employment Practices of Broadcast Licensees, 13
F.C.C. 2d 766 (1968); Nondiscrimination Employment Practices of
[*600] Broadcast Licensees, 13 F.C.C. 2d 240 (1969);
Nondiscrimination Employment Practices of Broadcast Licensees, 23 F.C.C. 2d 430
(1970).
The Commission issued a Public
Notice in April 1971 that required its licensees to file an annual reporting
form indicating the number of women, blacks, and other minorities employed by
stations in various job categories (see 21 P. & F. Radio Reb. 2d 1728
(1971)). With the Pennsylvania-Delaware renewals last year, the
Commission had its first opportunity to review each licensee's Equal Employment
Opportunity Program (Sect. VI of FCC form 303) in conjunction with its
1971-1972 Annual Employment Reports (FCC form 395) and initiate corrective or
punitive action where necessary. The Broadcast Bureau, however, had made
no provision for analyzing or processing these reports.
On our own initiative my staff and I
endeavored to examine these forms and evolve some standards which might be
uniformly applied to stations found to have unacceptable employment records,
Pennsylvania-Delaware Broadcasting Stations, 38 F.C.C. 2d 158 (1972). As a
result of our research we proposed that the contrast between percentage of
minorities in the community served by a station and the percentage of those
minorities in the employ of a station in high-paying jobs be examined.
The general standard, therefore, would be the rough parity between these
groups. In my Pennsylvania-Delaware statement I suggested that any
station employing less than the percentage of the local work force of a
specific minority population receive a letter of inquiry. I even went so
far as to suggest that the Commission might want to make the cut-off point
one-half of that minority population that is in the local work force, and send
letters to stations for which the form 395 shows less than that number of
minority employees in high-paying positions.
I suggested, finally, that the most
important comparison, the most meaningful one, was the percentage of the
minority in question in high-paying jobs compared to the percentage of all
employees in high-paying jobs. The obvious point for dispute is the cut-off
point. Do you strive for a 1.00 relationship or do you drop down to 0.75,
or even 0.50? In Pennsylvania-Delaware, the Commission chose to ignore
all the suggested criteria and consider only those stations with ten or more
employees, despite the fact that all stations with five or more full-time
employees are required to file with the Commission.
In short, the criteria I itemized
last year selectively identified those stations that reasonably could have been
required to furnish explanations to the Commission regarding practices
inconsistent with our equal employment rules.
In their August renewals action, the
Commission directed the Broadcast Bureau to send equal employment opportunity
letters to 30 stations which had ten or more employees and which:
(1) had no women employees, or
showed a decline in the number of women employees from 1971 to 1972, or
(2) were in areas with a minority
population of 5% or more and employed no blacks or showed a decline in the
number of black employees from 1971 to 1972. [*601] The
purpose of these letters was to solicit from the stations the reasons for their
employment patterns. The standards employed in selecting those stations
that would receive letters ignored many possible patterns of discrimination --
such as a station's refusal to employ minority group members and women in
high-paying positions.
Once the station's responses started
to pour in, the Commission was then faced with processing and analyzing
them. Prepared for neither task, the Broadcast Bureau had no recourse but
to accept, on face value, the responses received, and proceed with the granting
of renewals.
In October 1972, Maryland, the
District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia renewals were considered by
the Commission. Confronted with the specter of having to send out letters
of inquiry to a large number of stations which had shown some decline in the
number of women and blacks employed, the Commission majority backed down and
advised the staff to reduce the number of stations to which letters of inquiry
would be sent. It did so, and the result was that many stations falling
below the standards adopted in August were not included in the mailing. I
issued a dissenting statement to that action (see Equal Employment Opportunity
Inquiries, FCC 92012, Nov. 10, 1972, F.C.C.
2d (1972)).
In their disposition of the Florida
renewals in February 1972, the Commission majority refused even to send letters
of inquiry to those stations whose employment practices raised serious
questions under the current equal employment opportunity regulations. The
majority approved the Broadcast Bureau's decision not to send letters to a
substantial percentage of those stations which either did not employ minority
group members or women or which had shown a decline in the number of such
persons employed in the previous year. Aggravating this approval was the
fact that the majority did not even think it necessary to inquire as to what
methods used by the Bureau in the selection of those stations that were to
receive letters. I issued a dissenting statement to that action (see
Florida Renewals -- 1973, 39 F.C.C. 2d 1035 (1973)).
This procedure was again repeated in
the Georgia-Alabama renewals in April of this year. There were a number
of stations whose employment practices warranted a letter of inquiry at the
very least. The majority again asked the Broadcast Bureau to reduce this
list. The method of paring down the list was as arbitrary as the order to
do so. I issued a dissenting statement to that action (see
Georgia-Alabama Renewals -- 1973, FCC 00892, March 29,
1973, F.C.C. 2d (1973)).
Now we are faced with the June
renewals -- Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Once again the Broadcast
Bureau has conducted a review of 1971 and 1972 Annual Employment Reports to
determine the stations to be selected for inquiry. According to
previously established criteria, the staff claims to have selected for review
stations having more than ten full-time employees and which:
(1) Had no full-time women
employees, or showed a decline in the number of full-time women employees from
1971 to 1972; or
[*602] (2) Are in areas
with a minority population of 5 per cent or more and employed no full-time
blacks or showed a decline in black full-time employees from 1971 to 1972.
The staff found 46 stations which
met these criteria. Ofthose 46, only 19 stations were selected for
further inquiry.
If there were 46 stations in the
above categories, then all 46 should at least receive letters of inquiry from
the FCC. The methods used for paring down the original list can only
serve to dilute the original intention of the filings and impede any progress
that might have been made since last August.
The problem seems to be, therefore,
one of degree. To what extent is the Commission willing to deal with this
problem? The majority's action is sorrowfully indicative of their lack of
commitment to any meaningful enforcement of equal employment practices in the
broadcast industry.
I dissent.