Commissioners Disagree About Diversity Committee Goals

FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly and Chairman Ajit Pai appeared to be in some disagreement about the goals of the newly empaneled Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. The disagreement appeared in their remarks preceding the group’s first meeting Monday.

O’Rielly said he's “not exactly sure” about what a working group Pai tasked with taking “a hard look” at diversity in the tech industry is going to do, and asked the advisory committee to consider focusing “on those ideas that may actually be enacted.” O'Rielly did say he was looking forward to the working group's conclusions. Silicon Valley is "lagging behind” on diversity and inclusion, Pai said in his own remarks, which preceded O’Rielly’s. ”We hope that this Committee will study the topic, highlight best practices of industry leaders in this field, and share insights on how businesses can address these challenges.” The FCC is limited in its scope by the Constitution, O’Rielly said, and tech companies aren’t in its purview. The advisory committee could be “theoretical” or “move the needle,” and isn’t here to be “cover” for a “preordained outcome,” he said. Meanwhile, Clyburn in her remarks specifically urged the committee to look at a matter outside the FCC’s control, the minority tax credit. “With the help of Congress, we can and should reinstate a tax certificate program, focused on promoting opportunities for new entrants,” she said.

Clyburn said though she and Pai disagreed on some topics, she believes they’re working toward the same goals of diversity in telecom. “Even though we might see things differently, all of us want the same thing,” Clyburn said. Pai also created working groups on increasing diversity in broadcast ownership, and bridging ”the broadband gap,” Pai said in his remarks at the start of Monday’s meeting. The specificity of this committee’s goals is in contrast to previous FCC diversity advisory committees, said Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation Governance Studies Fellow Nicol Turner-Lee, a past and current diversity committee member.

Several committee members discussed in broad terms the possibility of the committee working on policies that would need congressional action to implement. Some issues may go beyond the commission, said Turner-Lee in an interview, though she conceded “Commissioner O’Rielly’s concerns are worthy of consideration.” Former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said differing views about the scope of advisory committees aren't uncommon, and she didn’t believe O’Rielly’s remarks are an indication the committee’s recommendations would run into difficulty.

Even though most tech companies aren’t licensees, they are dependent on FCC licensees and their network infrastructure for their businesses to function, said National Urban League CEO Marc Morial, who heads the working group on tech industry diversity. Tech companies can’t separate themselves from the networks the FCC regulates, he said. “Tech can be broadly defined,” Morial said. He cited the Urban League’s involvement in voluntary diversity measures in several major telecom mergers, such as Comcast/NBC. “What is the bully pulpit of this commission in pushing diversity?” Morial said. Former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera heads the working group on broadcast ownership, and Heather Gate, director-digital inclusion at Connected Nation, heads the group on broadband access. The membership of the working groups is still being determined.

Working groups will meet frequently in the coming months, with the goal of having a substantive meeting of the full committee in Q1 2018, said Committee Chair Julia Johnson, president of Net Communications. However, several committee members said the advisory committee should soon recommend FCC action in response recent hurricane damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the committee’s designated federal officer, Jamila Johnson, said the committee could seek to act sooner than planned. Johnson also suggested the committee eventually could hold field hearings.

Both Pai and Clyburn suggested the committee examine proposals to increase broadcast diversity through an incubator program that might reward participating broadcasters. Clyburn also asked the committee to look at ways to encourage companies to sell divestitures to minority owners, to increase diversity using existing frequencies such as low-power FM, and to take action on the FCC’s independent programming NPRM. “I believe we have enough data to move to a final order, targeting two of the worst offending practices facing many independent video programmers: “unconditional” most favored nation clauses, and “unreasonable” alternative distribution method provisions.