Clyburn brings inclusion perspective to FCC
"I feel a lot better about retiring knowing that you are there," Copps told Clyburn as both were honored at the National Association of Broadcasters by the Hispanic Media and Telecommunications Coalition. For Copps, a decade as a lonely voice on behalf of consumers had ended with a period of collaboration.
Clyburn, a South Carolina newspaper publisher and former utility commissioner, has brought the perspective of small media and small businesses to the forefront at the FCC.
On Jan. 4, the commission will hold a summit on equal employment opportunity compliance. The new Office of Communications Business Opportunities will co-host the event with the Policy Division of the Media Bureau.
The commission conducts random EEO audits of five percent of its regulated businesses each year, one of the reasons that FCC regulated firms have the highest ratios of African-American employees of any major industries.
By contrast, Silicon Ceiling 11 reported that the Dept. of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs conducted no compliance reviews of the largest technology companies in the past year.
Her advocacy is making a difference outside the commission. NAB President Gordon Smith told the audience that the broadcast trade group is advocating a revival of the minority ownership tax certificate program, ended by Congress in the 1990s, in order to increase minority ownership of broadcast properties.
