Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

WMJm BROADCASTING THE BUSINESSWEEKLY OF TELEVISION AND RADIO Vol. 54, No. 14 APRIL 7, 1958 HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT SLAPS FCC • Subcommittee criticizes misconduct, urges stiffened laws • First phase of investigation is ended, but more's to come Culminating eight weeks of hearings, the House Legislative Oversight Subcommittee Friday morning issued an 18-page report severely criticizing the FCC on several points and recommending corrective legislation on others. While failing to go so far as to propose a "ripper" bill such as is under study in the Senate [Government, March 18], the report nevertheless failed to find a single area in which to commend the Commission (for text, see page 30). The report covered just 'about every phase discussed during hearings on misconduct charges lodged against the commissioners and on the FCC February 1957 grant of Miami ch. 10 to National Airlines. Specific legislation is recommended — and amendments to the Communications Act have been drafted for introduction soon after the Easter recess — in these four fields: (1) A code of ethics for commissioners. (2) Removal of the provision in the 1952 amendment authorizing the acceptance of honorariums. (3) Abolishment of all ex-parte contacts with commissioners. This would include letters and telephone calls made by members of Congress unless the same communi cations were sent to all interested parties and made a matter of public record. (4) Give to the President the power to remove commissioners for "neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause." Following pretty much the lines of a general indictment, the report did not mention specific names or instances. "Our hearings to date have revealed certain highly improper activities in connection with the FCC. . . . Accordingly, we are . . . referring the record to the Dept. of Justice for appropriate action with respect to the violations of law," the report stated. The commissioners were put on notice to spend more time finding solutions to industry problems rather than continuing "fruitless debate" at broadcasting conventions and meetings. On commissioner acceptance of industry payment of hotel bills and travel expenses, the report said the "questionable propriety of some of this conduct . . . has seriously undermined public confidence in the FCC." In this field, the report called on the Comptroller General to clarify his "conflicting" statements. It also told the commissioners not to accept in the future industry equipment in their homes which "may have been" placed there "not in the public interest but in the interest of promoting the business of the industrial concerns which furnished the equipment." Pressures of the kind brought to bear against commissioners in the Miami ch. 10 case' "cannot be tolerated," the report stated, and it was further felt these pressures were brought on by long FCC delays in comparative tv proceedings. "Further exploration" is needed in four fields, the subcommittee reported. These include: • "Method of selecting or designating chairmen of independent regulatory commissions. . . . Present provisions authorizing the President to designate the chairmen of most of these commissions appear to be in conflict with the objective of bi-partisan, political neutrality. • "The powers of the chairmen of independent regulatory commissions. • "The powers of the Bureau of the Budget with respect to independent regulatory commissions. • "The terms "of office and salaries of the SUBCOMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT INTERIM REPORT COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE Pursuant to Section 136 of the Legislative Reorganization ' Act of 1946, Public Law 601, 70th Congress, and FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION SUBMITTED BY MR. HARRIS. CHAIRMAN -, 1958.— Committed to the Committee of the Whole Hoi n the State of the Union and ordered to be printed UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OtT'lCE WASHINGTON : 10)8 Text of interim report pages 30-31 Broadcasting April 7, 1958 • Page 2',