Keep Calm and Carry on … with Underwriting Copy Process in Good Faith
Yesterday’s announcement by the FCC Chairman that he has asked the agency to open an investigation into the broadcasting of sponsorship messages (underwriting) across NPR and PBS member stations understandably brings with it some uncertainty for local sponsorship teams and station management. As we all know, if imposed, FCC fines take place at the station level.
But if anything stands out in this uncertainty, it is the importance of process.
First, it’s helpful to remind ourselves of the FCC’s current process for investigating underwriting complaints and the reality of some of its well-documented decisions:
- Complaints are generally consumer-driven and filed by members of the public.
- In order to be investigated, complaints require specificity to the local station *and* to the announcement in question.
- When local stations have been fined in the past, it has usually been because the FCC found that the station in question had knowingly or egregiously violated the FCC guidelines. The FCC has also shown in the past that it is much less likely to take action in response to a complaint if the station in question has taken care to document and prove that the decision to approve a specific underwriter or message was made in good faith based on the station’s reasonable understanding of the requirements.
With this in mind, Greater Public has long advised stations to keep the following guiding principles in mind when navigating copy approval, and these principles still apply today:
- Documentation: Guidelines interpretation is often subjective; document your decision-making process so, if needed, you can demonstrate to the FCC that your decisions were made carefully and in good faith. Copy approval process is less about being right or wrong, and more about what is defensible in the eyes of the FCC.
- Risk assessment: With any copy decisions, especially those that are “close to the line,” consider your market, your audience, your donors, and their potential reaction to viewing or hearing such a message.
- Consistency: Make sure you are knowledgeable and thoughtful in your interpretation of the FCC guidelines, and keep your air as consistent as possible. More often than you might think, the dilemma in question is one of station policy rather than FCC guidelines.
What other steps can you take right now?
We should be proactive in demonstrating the responsibility we feel to the process and how serious we are about preserving the editorial integrity of our noncommercial service when we are raising money to support it from a diverse group of funders, including corporate supporters.
Now is the time to document your commitment to the importance of compliance, and to do all you can to strengthen your station staff’s understanding of the FCC guidelines. In other words, keep on doing what you have always done:
- Ensure your written underwriting guidelines and copy approval processes and workflows are up-to-date, well-organized, accessible, and enforced. Documentation is especially important when it comes to copy or messages that are “close to the line.” Who was involved in the decision to run the message? What was the discussion around it? What tipped the decision towards approval? Do you have a compliance checklist attached to creative approval?
- Keep records of underwriting contracts and client-specific communications around copy and guidelines. Most CRMs make this easy.
- If you have new staff or high turnover on your sponsorship team, take advantage of various guidelines-oriented trainings and resources in the system, and document your team’s participation in such trainings to show your station’s focus on helping all staff understand and uphold the FCC guidelines. Greater Public offers the following resources to help:
Watch this space for a 2025 copy training webinar and related compliance resources coming soon!
When it comes to questions from or messaging to clients, remind your underwriters that the FCC guidelines really work *for* them in a unique way: Our quality viewers and listeners expect sponsor messages to sound and look different than commercials and they consider our sponsors more credible as a result. And while it does not make sense to lead with info about the anticipated FCC investigation, if asked, you can reassure your sponsors that you’ve taken your usual care to ensure their messages comply with FCC guidelines.
Keep the “good faith” everyone!
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