|
|
|
|
Overview Media Advocacy / Education
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
About the Commission
The Church and
Media: About the National Council of Churches USA
|
The NCC has adopted several
policy statements related to media education and advocacy,
under the general title
The Church and
Media: An NCC Policy Guide. These
statements form a basis for actions by the Communication Commission to address recent issues like the
following: Endorsement of Bill of Media Rights Networks' Refusal of UCC 'All Are Welcome' Message In Fall 2004, the United Church of Christ (an NCC member communion) began airing a new series of television messages on cable and broadcast channels. One of the spots -- with the theme "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we" -- was refused by CBS and NBC executives as "too controversial" because the spot showed guards at the door of a church turning away a variety of minority persons, including two who were apparently a gay couple, though not identified as such. The Commission issued a statement opposing the networks' ban as "arbitrary" and counter to the American principles of freedom of speech and equal access to media channels -- the nation's "virtual public square." A number of faith-based communicators added their names to the Commission's message. Click here to read the statement and the list of signers. Broadcast Ownership Rules The Communication Commission joined with hundreds of other organizations in 2003 to protest the FCC's attempts to accelerate the consolidation of America's mass media industry , particularly the relaxation of limits on corporate ownership of multiple radio and TV affiliates. Its court challenge to the rules (in a suit brought jointly with the Media Access Project and the Prometheus Radio Project) was supported by a federal court order on September 3, delaying the implementation of the new, more permissive rules. On June 28, 2004, in a lengthy decision of more than 200 pages, the court agreed with the NCC's position, and struck down the FCC's new policies, saying they were not justified in terms of law or policy, and did not serve the public interest. The judges mandated a new FCC decision that will preserve and protect diversity and localism in the media. The case was argued on behalf of the NCC and its partner plaintiffs by prominent telecommunications attorney Andrew Jay Schwarzman. Low Power FM and TV The Commission has taken positions since the late 1990's promoting the allocation of low-power frequencies to improve access to media distribution by minorities and other underrepresented groups in broadcasting. The FCC's new "localism initiative" will mean renewed interest in this topic in the coming year. In Fall 2004, the NCC Commission sponsored an hour-long television documentary, entitled "LPFM: The People's Voice," as part of the NBC TV network's Horizons of the Spirit series. The program, produced for NCC by the United Church of Christ and carried by many NBC affiliates nationwide, presented the case for low-power community radio. Times Square Billboard Censorship The Commission criticized Reuters Corporation in Fall 2003 for its policy of refusing to sell space on its Times Square (NYC) billboard to religious organizations, specifically a Thanksgiving message from the United Methodist Church, an NCC member communion. In response to this and other protests from the public, Reuters subsequently changed its policy. Click here to read the Commission's statement. WorldCom/MCI Fraud Case
The Commission in mid-2003 joined with groups raising concerns about the failure of the SEC and FCC
to respond with legal penalties appropriate to the scale of the WorldCom-MCI fraud case,
which destabilized the industry, robbed shareholders of billions in equity, and cost tens
of thousands of workers in other telecom companies their jobs because of WorldCom's
fraudulent competitive practices. The Commission co-sponsored, with the World Association of Christian Communication, the development of a journalists' code of fair practices in the coverage of Israeli-Palestinian issues, drafted in April 2002 and presented in a day-long seminar in New York City in conjunction with the Communication Commission meetings. |
