Congressman Michael G. Oxley Fourth Ohio District OXLEY URGES ACTION ON RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING FREEDOM  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 13, 2000
 
WASHINGTON -- At a hearing on Capitol Hill today, U.S. Rep. Michael G. Oxley (R-Findlay) urged legislative action to guarantee religious broadcasting freedom.  The House Telecommunications Subcommittee today heard testimony about Oxley's legislation to address restrictions placed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on religious broadcasters.  Those restrictions specifically targeted traditional religious programming, such as church services.
 
"God works in mysterious ways," Oxley said, "but almost certainly not through the FCC."
 
Just days after the FCC order became public, Oxley introduced legislation to reverse it.  That bill, H.R. 3525, now has 125 cosponsors in the House of Representatives.  Oxley is an original cosponsor of legislation recently introduced by Rep. Chip Pickering, H.R. 4201.
 
Despite the FCC's reversal on the issue, Oxley believes Congress should act to prevent the Commission from attempting the same type of restriction in the future.
 
"When this first happened last December, Cornerstone Broadcasting must have felt like David with a slingshot against the Goliath Federal Communications Commission," Oxley said.  "And yet Cornerstone was in the right, and after a great public outcry, the FCC backed off."
 
The issue arose in December of 1999 during a license swap in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Cornerstone Broadcasting, a religious broadcaster, sought to acquire a non-commercial educational television license.  In the resulting order, the Commission included an "additional guidance" section instructing Cornerstone on what could and could not be construed as educational content.  The FCC specifically excluded traditional religious services from the educational programming content requirement.  Broadcasters who hold this kind of license must primarily broadcast educational content.
 
Prior to the Cornerstone case, traditional religious programming had been counted as educational.
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