Separate Statement 
                               of 
                        Commissioner Ness


Re:  Equal Employment Opportunity Rules and Policies (MM Docket No. 98-204 and  MM
Docket No. 96-16)

     Today we propose new rules intended to ensure that women and minorities continue to
have a fair chance to be considered for employment and promotion at broadcast stations,  cable
systems, and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).  I fully support
this item but write separately to emphasize the following:

     First, I reiterate my longstanding support for equal employment opportunity, as well as
my view that voluntary efforts are critical if women and minorities are to be fully able to seek
and obtain employment, training, and promotion in the mass media and telecommunications
industries.  Since I joined the Commission in 1994, I have vigorously advocated strong, but
fair, enforcement of our rules.  I also have encouraged broadcasters and cable operators
voluntarily not only to hire, but also to train, qualified women and minorities for management. 
Ultimately, such steps will help open doors to senior management and, for some, ownership of
media properties.  Without such steps, we are destined to see a lack of diversity in the
ownership and management of broadcast and cable enterprises.  

     Second, we have taken to heart the Lutheran Church decision of the Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia and we are responding fully to the concerns of the court in that
case.  While I believe that, both as to its design and its application, the Commission's outreach
rules complied with Constitutional standards, nonetheless, the Court has spoken.  The new
EEO proposals made today will not require licensees to measure their hiring record against
labor force information and should not affect, in any way, their ability to hire the best
qualified people.  In response to the court's view that our comparison of the station's
employment data against local workforce data led licensees "to hire with an eye toward
meeting the numerical target," we have discontinued that comparison and have scrupulously
sought to eliminate that potentiality from our new proposals.

     Finally, our EEO rules have never been -- and should not become -- the upper limit in
this area.  There is ample evidence that some leading broadcasters and cable operators will,
indeed, take more aggressive steps on their own to enlarge their pools of qualified applicants.  
I was heartened that following the Lutheran Church decision, several exemplary broadcasters
publicly committed to continue, and expand upon, their recruitment and training efforts.   
These efforts work, as evidenced by the change in workforce makeup over the last 25 years. 
Inclusion of women and minorities in the operations of a broadcast station or cable system
does make a positive difference -- a difference that strengthens not just the companies that they
serve, but also the country at large.