Former Commissioners Discuss Relaxing Open Meeting Rules, Net Neutrality, at Quello Forum
Relaxing open meeting rules to allow FCC commissioners to meet in larger groups would lead to less contention and quicker decision-making for the agency, said a panel of former FCC commissioners at a Quello Center Communication Policy Forum event Thursday. Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley moderated the panel of former Commissioners Rachelle Chong, Michael Copps, Susan Ness, Henry Rivera and Deborah Tate, who discussed issues ranging from net neutrality to media ownership. All agreed that increasing dialogue between commissioners could facilitate commission business.
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Rules preventing three or more commissioners from meeting inhibit commissioners’ ability “to come to rational decisions in a friendly way,” said Ness. Though commissioners’ aides are allowed to meet, that’s not a replacement for free dialogue among commissioners, the panelists said. “When you have staff between you and fellow commissioners, it just takes longer,” said Rivera. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler should pursue a legislative fix for the rule, Copps said. The FCC could also enhance its ability to get things done by creating positions for engineers and sticking harder to deadlines, Chong said.
"Why do you have these dates if you're going to ignore them?” said Tate, referring to the FCC’s tardiness in completing the 2010 quadrennial review. The commission’s newspaper cross-ownership rules have led to numerous newspapers being shuttered, she said. “There’s so many things the commission could have done,” Tate said. The FCC should do more to address the lack of minority ownership in broadcasting, Rivera said. Minority incubator programs or a minority tax credit could be put into place without leading to the unsuccessful court battles that have resulted from previous minority ownership efforts, Rivera said. The commission’s media ownership rules are “badly outmoded” and need to be modernized, Wiley said.
The FCC should have net neutrality rules that “have clarity” and “rest on the best possible legal argument,” Copps said, referring to Title II reclassification. “It appears we might not be embarked on that road,” said Copps, referring to reports of Wheeler’s plans for new net neutrality rules. Certainty of an open Internet doesn’t have to come from government regulation, Tate said. Companies have said they're willing to abide by open Internet rules, and there’s little evidence that they won’t, she said. “Where is the flood of concerns? What is the problem we are trying to solve?”
"We better get used to living under the act we have now,” said Copps of the possibility of a Communications Act rewrite. The circumstances that led to the 1996 act’s creation were unlikely to be repeated, he said. Though Chong said she believes a new act that recognizes intermodal competition is needed, she was also skeptical that it would happen any time soon. A lack of industry “groundswell” in support of a new act may indicate a new one isn’t needed, said Rivera. Ness said that rather than rewriting the act, the new kinds of competition should be addressed on their own. Any effort to create a new Communications Act should focus on decreasing the amount of industry regulation, Tate said. Asked what her priority would be if she were on the FCC now, Tate said she would be reflective. “Do we still need an FCC?”