USC Annenberg calls on broadcasters to post public files online

Broadcasters Public Files should be made truly public as well as truly accessible, according to a proposal from the USC Annenberg Local News Initiative to the Federal Communications Commission. In a filing at the FCC, USC Annenberg's Local News Initiative proposed that broadcasters, who have long been required by law to keep Public Files, should make them truly public by placing them on the Internet. The FCC has long required that this information be made public, said Adam Clayton Powell III (pictured), visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the director of research of the USC Annenberg Local News Initiative. This merely brings broadcasting into the 21st century, mirroring the requirements faced by every major corporation regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.