50 State Broadcasters Associations have sent a letter to leaders of Congress asking them to support the reinstatement of the Diversity Tax Certificate Program. The Associations say both H.R. 4871 and S. 2456 would encourage investment in TV and radio broadcast station ownership for women and people of color. Read the letter HERE.
Editors:
It’s no surprise that many broadcasters love the tax deferment which only persons of non-white skin color or of the female gender could provide to them under the legislation all 50 state associations and the NAB here have lined up to support.
So a wealthy minority or woman, because of born skin color or gender, can give a seller a tax deferment, but a man with white skin cannot. This is a gross affront to our constitution. It declares all Americans are equal, and underwrites equality of opportunity to all, not disciminatory favors based on skin color or gender.
This misguided and disgraceful industry support disrespects the teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King that we must all judge all Americans on the basis of their character, not their skin color (or gender). This iron principle benefits all Americans, including minorities and women, and guarantees all are equal under the law.
Congress abolished 1071 certificates in 1995 precisely because of gross abuses. Studies found no discernible connection between minority/female ownership and the broadccast “viewpoints” of these preferred groups. Nobody can name, then or now, any issue peculiar to these groups that has not been covered fully on radio, television, and social media generally. And the holding period of stations these preferred groups acquired was about 3 years before sale!
President Reagan did not support government favors granted to people based on their skin color or gender, and most thinking Americans agree. The good news is no matter what the woke NAB supports (it rashly, as a charter Swamp player, congratulated President Biden BEFORE his election was certified), there is no doubt that if this proposed legislation becomes law the Supreme Court will declare it unconstitutional.
The Reagan FCC unshackled the industry by wholesale elimination of mindless, anachronistic, or unconstitutional regulations and policies. Equality of opportunity and reliance on the marketplace, not Washington favors, was the undergirding principle.
Now that the forces of Left and worse infect many boardrooms, future freedom of operations and security of licenses in broadcasting may not remain secure. “All animals are created equal. Some are more equal than others.” George Orwell, “Animal Farm.” I hope the broadcasters of our still great,still free country, will reconsider their support of this very unAmerican legislation. The way events are unfolding in our nation now, don’t hold your breath.