Sen. Boxer Calls For Probe Of FCC After Second Report Surfaces

Barbara Boxer

Sen. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA) says she's uncovered another report that the FCC allegedly suppressed, this one on radio ownership. BOXER has sent a letter to FCC Chairman KEVIN MARTIN telling him that she has been sent a copy of a draft version of the 2003 "Review of the Radio Industry" which shows a 5.9% increase in the overall number of stations between MARCH 1996 and MARCH 2003 but a 35% decrease in the number of station owners.

BOXER notes that the report was never finalized despite similar reports being released in previous years and no radio ownership report had been finalized since 2002. "This is in spite of the fact that this information would be highly relevant to the Commission’s ongoing proceedings on localism and media ownership," BOXER notes. 

Calling on MARTIN to release the report, BOXER adds that she will ask the Commission's Inspector General to "examine whether it was then or is now the practice of the FCC to suppress facts that are contrary to a desired outcome."

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