*Pages 1--1 from  Microsoft Word - 39845*
 STATEMENT  OF  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL 
 Re:  Broadcast  Localism,  Notice  of  Inquiry 
 Fostering  localism  is  one  of  this  Commission’s  core  missions  and  one  of  three  policy  goals,  along  with  diversity  and  competition,  which  have  driven  much  of  our  radio  and  television  broadcast  regulation 
 during  the  last  70  years.  Today’s  Notice  of  Inquiry  is  another  step  in  that  long  legacy  and  will  serve  as  a  primary  information  gathering  source  for  the  work  of  the  Commission’s  Localism  Task  Force.  Along 
 with  several  public  hearings,  three  of  which  have  been  conducted,  to  date,  the  Task  Force  will  take  the  information  filed  in  this  NOI  and  the  results  of  its  own  studies  designed  to  measure  localism  in 
 broadcasting  to  advise  the  Commission  on  steps  it  can  take  and,  if  warranted,  will  make  legislative  recommendations  to  Congress  that  would  strengthen  localism  in  broadcasting. 


 Over  the  last  several  years,  the  Commission’s  review  of  the  media  marketplace  has  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  broadcast  community,  at  large,  has  made  great  strides  in  serving  the  needs  of  their 
 local  communities.  Indeed,  long  gone  are  the  days  in  which  the  three  local  broadcast  stations  in  any  given  community  offered  a  scant  five  minutes  of  local  news.  Today,  local  newscasts  have  become  the  staple  of 
 any  successful  local  broadcast  television  station,  demonstrating  that  serving  the  needs  and  wants  of  your  local  community  does  not  just  fulfill  their  public  obligations,  but  also  simply  make  good  business  sense. 


 This,  too,  has  been  seen  as  new  media  outlets—  from  new  broadcast  stations  to  cable  and  satellite  television  and  radio  programming  to  the  Internet—  increasingly  offer  our  citizens  more  access  to  locally 
 produced  content  and  content  of  interest  to  local  communities  throughout  the  country.  That  said,  even  as  audiences  continue  to  fragment  across  an  increasingly  diverse  and  competitive  media  marketplace,  and  at 
 a  time  in  which  they  have  access  to  more  local  content  than  at  any  time  in  our  nation’s  history,  the  public  still  looks  first  to  the  broadcast  industry  to  serve  its  localism  needs.  It  is  this  fact  that  makes  our  work  in 
 this  area  so  important.  So  as  I  urge  broadcasters  to  fully  inform  the  Commission  of  the  laudable  steps  they  take  in  serving  the  interests  of  their  local  communities,  I  urge  that  they  join  us  in  recognizing  that 
 there  is  always  room  for  improvement. 
1