The Minority Media Telecommunications Council said Monday that it will ask the
Federal Communications Commission to strengthen minority- and gender-recruiting
rules for broadcast stations and cable systems in light of a Supreme Court
ruling upholding the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action
admissions policy.
The council also said it would ask the FCC to reconsider much of its recent
broadcast-ownership deregulation in light of judicial support for promoting
racial diversity in American society.
Monday's decision shows that "narrowly tailored race-conscious recruitment to
promote diversity would be desirable and should be constitutionally
permissible," MMTC executive director David Honig said. "Like diversity in
education, diversity in mass-media ownership and employment contributes
profoundly to the quality of our civic discourse and to the strength of our
democratic institutions."
By a 5-4 vote, the high court struck down a point system used by Michigan's undergraduate programs, but approved a different program
used by the law school that gives race less prominence in admissions
decisions.
