1 Analysis of Boston Local Television News Story Selection Bias, 1993–2002 Keith J. Winstein May 22, 2002 Introduction The Federal Communications Commission’s broadcaster ownership diversity regulations are under attack. This spring, in response to two challenges from groups of broadcasters, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia remanded for reconsideration as “arbitrary and capricious”1 two longstanding F.C.C. regulations: the prohibition2 on any one entity’s owning broadcasters able to reach more than 35% of the viewing public, and the re-striction3 against an entity owning more than one television station in certain television markets. With consumers able to receive their media from an in-creasing variety of sources, the F.C.C.’s outdated economic justifications for its broadcaster diversity regulations are looking less and less convincing to skepti-cal courts, and the commissioners do not appear to be inclined to fight to keep the rules in place. Commentators in journalism have reacted with dismay. Alex S. Jones, the director of Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Poli-tics and Public Policy, has predicted a gloomy future as a result of the rules’ relaxation: These possible F.C.C. rule changes will almost certainly create a concentration of media power far beyond what now exists in most places. Such a local media leviathan may have the best of intentions and have no wish to stifle disparate voices. But consolidation could well foreclose the possibility of any competition that would improve news coverage.. . . Too much media concentration in any town is inherently unhealthy, like relying on a single dominant industry or investing heavily in only one stock. Excessive dependence on a single source of news can put at risk the free exchange of ideas essential to democracy. The First Amendment is meant to assure robust debate, and the limitations on local cross-ownership were written with that objective in mind. On the local level, rolling back those rules will inevitably make that debate more one-sided.4 1Fox TV Stations, Inc. v. FCC, 280 F.3d 1027 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 19, 2002) (remanding 35% viewership rule for consideration as “arbitrary and capricious”), Sinclair Broad. Group, Inc. v. FCC, 284 F.3d 148 (D.C. Cir. April 2, 2002) (remanding duopol y prohibition for consideration as “arbitrary and capricious”). 247 C.F.R. § 73.3555(e) (2001). 347 C.F.R. § 76.501(a) (2001). 4Alex S. Jones, The Costs of Consolidation, N.Y. Times, Feb. 28, 2002, at A27. 1Unfortunately, Mr. Jones’s prediction of a conglomeration of media power may have already come true, through a back door. While ownership of local television stations by national networks is not yet a majority practice, another such relationship between local stations and national conglomerates is: net-work affiliation. An analysis of the Nexis database of local news transcripts in Boston from 1993 to the present indicates that network affiliation may be, by one measure, at least as potent an influence on local news as network owner-ship. After presenting a statistical analysis of what appears to be a consistent and journalistically-improper network-related story selection bias in the Boston local news, I will discuss my attempts to discern the mechanisms producing this effect. Finally, I will explain why the existence of this bias plausibly violates the Communications Act and whether legal recourse is available to private actors. 2 Stations and Networks 2.1 The Stations There are three major local television news stations that serve the Boston area. WCVB-TV channel 5 is owned by Hearst-Argyle Television Inc., a publicly-traded firm that owns 24 television stations reaching about 18% of the country’s population. WCVB transmits its local newscast “Newscenter 5” during the early morning and at noon, 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. daily. During primetime, WCVB retransmits programming from its network affiliate, the American Broadcasting Co. (ABC), a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. WHDH-TV channel 7 is owned by the Sunbeam Television Corp., which also owns one other Miami television station and is principally controlled by an individual, Edmund N. Ansin. WHDH transmits the local newscast “7 News” during the early morning and at noon, 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. daily. WHDH also retransmits network programming from the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC), a subsidiary of the General Electric Co. WBZ-TV channel 4 is owned by Viacom Inc., a large conglomerate of pub-lishing, movie production, music, radio, television and amusement park con-cerns, including 39 television broadcast stations across the country. 5 WBZ transmits a local newscast, “WBZ4 News,” on its own channel and another local channel owned by Viacom, WSBK-TV channel 38. For network program-ming, WBZ retransmits television shows from a national network owned by Viacom, CBS Inc.6 Prior to 1995, the local situation was somewhat different. WBZ-TV, which had been NBC’s network affiliate through 1995, became part of the same com-pany as CBS in late 1995 when Westinghouse Inc., then WBZ’s owner, pur-chased CBS. Before Jan. 2, 1995, the network affiliations of WBZ and WHDH 5Viacom’s stations reach 39% of the country’s population, in violation of the F.C.C.’s 35% limit; a stay issued by the D.C. Circuit has allowed them to remain over the limit. 280 F.3d at 1036. 6Viacom also owns the UPN national broadcast network. 2were switched: WHDH was a CBS affiliate, and WBZ was an NBC affiliate. WCVB has been an ABC affiliate since 1972. 2.2 Affiliation Agreements The contract between WHDH and NBC, and between WCVB and ABC (and which existed between WBZ and CBS for the year 1995) is known as an affili-ation agreement. Under the F.C.C.’s rules7, television stations are required to file these documents with the Commission, ostensibly for the F.C.C.’s policy oversight purposes. Accordingly, I filed a request with the F.C.C. under the Freedom of Information Act8 for the WHDH-NBC agreement, the WCVB-ABC agreement, and any agreement on file between WBZ and CBS before the two companies merged in late 1995. Unfortunately, the F.C.C. did not have agreements on file for WCVB and WHDH. (They were