A Minority Media and Telecommunications Council study on the...

A Minority Media and Telecommunications Council study on the impacts of cross-ownership was negligent when it erroneously identified stations as female- or minority-owned that weren’t, said Free Press in an ex parte letter released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/18WuzaD). MMTC had said it was using data from the FCC database to identify station owners (CD Aug 22 p14), but Free Press said checking the commission’s data and verifying the station’s true owners “required less than an hour” to complete. “Negligence on MMTC’s part does not constitute a Free Press error, or lack of merit in our objection,” said Free Press. “That MMTC’s methodology was deeply flawed indicates that its conclusions cannot justify any changes to the Commission’s ownership rules,” Free Press said. Free Press also took issue with MMTC allegations that Free Press has called the study biased. “At no time has Free Press said that MMTC coached respondents on how to answer survey questions. We merely noted that any conflicts of interest or potential conflicts should have been disclosed,” Free Press said. The ex parte also reiterated Free Press’s earlier complaints about the study’s peer review process and the lack of info about respondents provided by MMTC (CD Aug 8 p3). “We do not deny that MMTC made an effort,” said Free Press. “However, that effort has fallen short of its potential and failed to produce valuable conclusions.” MMTC President David Honig said he was still reviewing Free Press’s comments.