On Monday, May 19, the conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned the Federal Communications Commission’s rules re-establishing its workforce diversity data publication rules in National Religious Broadcasters v. FCC.
In response to this ruling, Cheryl A. Leanza, policy advisor to UCC Media Justice said, “It is notable that the 5th Circuit overturned these rules on the narrowest of grounds, declining the invitation of broadcasters to invalidate the collection of workforce data on constitutional grounds. Instead, the 5th Circuit concluded that the FCC had not anchored the rules in its statutory obligation to ensure non-discrimination in broadcasting. The court did not question that the FCC could have justified the data collection as part of its legal obligation to ensure non-discrimination.”
Leanza continued, “facts about broadcast hiring are a critical element of ensuring non-discrimination in employment and in service to all people in the United States. Myriad data shows that a diverse workforce makes for stronger performing companies that provide essential news and information to a wide variety of audiences. This rule was a critical element of the FCC’s statutory mandate to ensure broadcasting serves all viewers and listeners. Our founder Everett Parker was right when he proposed workforce diversity rules in 1967, the FCC was right to adopt them shortly after, Congress was right to mandate their continued use in 1992 and the FCC was right to readopt them last year after a 20-year lapse. This court decision issued today is wrong, but it does not impose a fatal blow to the need for this important data.”
This decision is all the more consequential as it comes on the heels of the FCC’s approval of Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications, in which the agency touted that Verizon got the deal done only after promising to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.