Today, the FCC announced publicly that it is moving ahead with its research framework designed pursuant to Section 257, the Critical Information Needs Study.

Cheryl Leanza, the policy advisor for the United Church of Christ OC Inc., praised Chairwoman Clyburn today for her leadership in moving this effort forward.  "The Chairwoman has once again proven that she has her eye on the ball.  Even in tight fiscal times, the Chairwoman is pinching pennies to increase the FCC's knowledge base on critical policy issues facing the agency." 

The United Church of Christ, OC Inc. has been requesting the Federal Communications Commission improve its understanding of communities of color for the last 15 years, since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Adarand decision, which led the FCC to scale back its media diversity efforts.   Its most recent efforts centered on the media ownership data released by the FCC under Chairman Genachowski at the end of last year.

"The Section 257 Critical Information Needs study is at long last the kind of comprehensive analysis the FCC has lacked.  We are delighted to see Chairwoman Clyburn put the Commission on the road to understanding how the media and telecommunications ecosystem serves the critical information needs of all people in the United States." 

At the same time, the Federal Communications Commission also announced a new study examining Hispanic television viewing and ownership as part of its on-going efforts to promote diversity.  "I am excited to see the question of Hispanic ownership addressed in such detail," noted Leanza, "we look forward to learning more about it and working with the Commission where we can to ensure its success."