Public must take back
its airwavesAfter deregulation broadcasters
tune out the public interest
At first blush it appears anti-business, even un-American. Coming from the mouth of one of Hawaii's best-known broadcaster-businessmen, it sounds like heresy.
But Hawaii citizens should weigh seriously what Cecil Heftel says about the need to recover the public airwaves from special interests who have hijacked the "public interest convenience and necessity" requirements through a giant giveaway of public airwaves disguised as "de-regulation."
Although Heftel, former Hawaii congressman and owner of KGMB-TV and KSSK radio, says deregulation gets bad press (or no coverage at all), he says that businessmen such as himself and other broadcasters can still share the benefits of free enterprise without violence to the democratic system or First Amendment through legislation that encourages diversity of access and public oversight.
That's because Heftel says regulation helps ensure that:
>> the public, not station owners, actually control the airwaves;In a recent speech at the Pacific Club, Heftel said that such basic rules have been discarded under the guise of new technology and the convergence of information and entertainment. He compares broadcast deregulation to what happened after the savings and loans institutions were deregulated in the 1970s and small investors lost billions of dollars.>> under licensed airwaves, owners -- who are actually renters -- have to use public airwaves less for advertising and entertainment desires, and more for societal and cultural needs;
>> broadcast stations promise to serve primarily local needs through locally originated news reported by on-site employees;
>> stations are obliged to provide local editorial opinion and diversity of commentary as part of their public service requirements;
>> there will be reasonable costs and "equal time" for equal political advertising;
>> a Fairness Doctrine will promote balance and access for dissenting voices;
>> there are enforceable constraints on the number of stations that can be owned by one company, and limitations on cross-ownership of broadcast and print media.
Under broadcast deregulation, the costs to the consumer, as well as advertisers, have risen for small business. Small businessmen, to whom regulation is supposed to be a natural enemy, are now paying excessively because of the benefits of deregulation to benefit some 80 percent of broadcast outlets owned by a few. In short, deregulation has backfired on the free enterprise system and the democratic process -- and coarsened American culture, as well.
As an alternative, Heftel contends that the corruption of both broadcasting and the electoral process could be removed from what he calls the "legalized bribery" of campaign financing if broadcasting outlets were required to provide use of the licensed public airwaves to a greater variety of political candidates without cost.
As a five-term congressman from Hawaii, Heftel said he was able to resist the temptations of special interests, including the broadcasters, because he was independently wealthy. He did not have to sell himself to campaign donors to get into office and stay there.
"That doesn't make me a saint, or anything," he joked. "I just didn't need the money."
Although now viewed as a traitor to some in the broadcasting business, the 80-year-old Heftel is doing just what many "public-oriented" broadcasters did before deregulation. He speaks out against special economic interests that, without rules, lack the checks and balances of the democratic system.
Disingenuously, the conglomerate broadcasters attack government for the same violations they engage in regularly: secrecy, concealment, failure to report significant public issues, lack of diversity, ethical violations and special-interest legislation to protect themselves from anti-trust legislation designed to help small business and the consumer.
Only an outraged citizenry can stop such perversions of the free enterprise system, as it did last year when the public rebelled against proposals from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell for further concentration of the broadcast media and encouraging greater cross-ownership.
Unfortunately, the broadcast media ignore such critical news because it affects their bottom line, Heftel said. That is why he is on the stump in what some call the "last hurrah" of an old broadcast and political warrior.
Like the early 20th-century muckrakers of "The Shame of the Cities" and "The Treason of the Senate," Heftel now is pleading with an educated, reading public with passionate polemics such as "How money bought broadcasting in America."
"You are atypical," Heftel told members of the Honolulu Community Media Council. "You can help bring about change."
The same is true of other Hawaii residents and business leaders who believe that improvement in the broadcasting business is a critical first step to reform of other democratic institutions such as education and economics.
But reform will never take place without a broadcast media regulated as it used to be (at the request of broadcasters) from 1927 to the 1980s.
"You are a small, select, intellectual group not striving to make money," he told the Media Council members. "Since you don't have to focus on money, you can worry about the public."
Despite all the bad news about broadcasting, Heftel sees glimmers of hope in the rowdy brawling of talk radio as one forum for diversity and debate. He also praises noncommercial outlets such as the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, which survive on government and public subsidies.
Surprisingly, after being vilified in one of Hawaii's most famous smear campaigns as a candidate for governor in the mid-1980s, Heftel still believes Hawaii residents are blessed with better-than-average print media.
He said and there is still an element of diversity among the competing newspapers in covering hard news and providing informed opinion. Because of the lack of editorial opinion over corporate broadcasting outlets, Hawaii voters must depend more on the printed word than on political advertisements.
But Hawaii's citizens still deserve more voices, not just in competing newspapers, Heftel warned. They also need more serious news and commentary in a variety of broadcast voices. Most of all, the few remaining independent newspapers and conglomerate publications need to be protected from cross-ownership broadcasting outlets and vice-versa.
"I still kick myself for selling my stations," Heftel said. He recalled that various public and political interests, including this writer, made his ownership of broadcasting outlets an issue when he ran for Congress in 1976.
"I sold my stations because I knew they would be a conflict of interest," he said. "What a fool I was to sell them."
Although Heftel says he blundered by selling his stations, Hawaii residents still have the opportunity to prevent further erosion of serious news coverage and commentary necessary to protect their representative system and distinctive culture. They can do this by examining Heftel's petitions to support campaign reform, free TV time for political candidates and broadcast regulation in the "public interest, convenience and necessity."
If anyone knows the consequences of failure to act on such issues, Heftel does. Even if the broadcasters and a converging print media ignore the issues because of their interlocking financial stakes, the public can still respond to requests for reform from businessmen such as Heftel who have seen first-hand the negative consequences of broadcast deregulation.
In the final analysis, Heftel is still trying to protect the business he once revered and brought credit to before a new generation of broadcasters betrayed the public by denying them the information and commentary needs encouraged by regulation of the public airwaves.
The bottom line of Heftel's counsel is that there is still a chance to reclaim the electoral system of our complex democracy and salvage what remains of our news and commentary from the misguided consequences of deregulation.
It's a serious message worth considering even while the new generation of broadcast conglomerates and their like-minded colleagues in Congress and the executive office look the other way.
Alf Pratte is a former Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter and administrative assistant for the Hawaii State Senate Minority. Pratte also is a member of the Annenberg Press Commission. He lives in Laie.