Every year, the Federal Communications Commission reviews the documents of hundreds of radio and television stations, randomly selecting about 5% of all stations licensed in the U.S. for review. Under scrutiny, the federal agency pores through hiring and employment records to check for discrimination. Now, several prominent San Antonio news stations have been given a deadline to submit those documents.
On August 21, the FCC sent out hundreds of letters to unsuspecting stations across the country. The letters call for an Equal Employment Opportunity audit. On that list of stations contacted, KSAT 12, KENS 5, KABB and KLRN are all under the FCC’s watchful eye this year.
Executives from each station are being asked to turn over job postings, Equal Employment Opportunity reports, documents showing how management enforces the federal policy, and details of any job fairs, internships, training, mentoring and recruiting efforts undertaken.
“Each year, approximately five percent of all radio and television stations are selected for EEO audits,” the letter states. “…Failure to respond to this audit by the deadline is punishable by sanctions.”
This audit is not evidence of any wrongdoing or guilt against any of the broadcasting companies. The audits are done every year, and the broadcasting companies are selected at random.
However, this isn’t the first interaction KABB, or its parent company, has had with the FCC. Sinclair Broadcast Group, with KABB identified, was ordered to shell out $2.65 million in penalties after the FCC found the company violated limits on commercials during children’s programming. It was all linked to a run of Team Hot Wheels, which aired years ago.
The KABB issue, however, was not any allegation of employment discrimination. These large FCC punishments typically center on national conglomerates that hold some power over local stations, which get a slap on the wrist from the FCC.
The San Antonio TV stations under audit have until October 20 to submit their documents to the FCC for review.