Testing Minority Preferences in Broadcasting

Creators: Dubin, Jeffrey A.; Spitzer, Matthew L.

Abstract

The United States government has several policies and programs designed to increase the number of broadcasting stations owned by racial minorities. Increasing the number of minority-owned broadcasting stations, the government claims, will diversify the content of broadcast programs by increasing the amount of minority-oriented programming. Minority owners will program their stations differently than white owners, the government claims. In this paper we present the first econometric test of these propositions about minority ownership of broadcasting stations as well as a number of other related propositions. We conclude that increasing the number of minority-owned broadcasting stations increases the amount of minority-oriented programming. We also conclude that increasing the number of female-owned stations-a policy that has been ruled unconstitutional would be just as effective at increasing minority-oriented programming.

Additional Information

The authors wish to thank Florence Setzer, Mark Zupan, Jane Halperin, the participants at workshops on the paper at the University of Southern California Law Center and participants in a session of the 1992 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. Research assistance was provided by P. Scott Burton, Eric Rosin and Bruce Eisen. Published as Dubin, Jeff, and Matthew L. Spitzer. "Testing minority preferences in broadcasting." Southern California Law Review. 68 (1994): 841-884.

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