PR Trade Group Calls To Postpone FCC Ownership Vote

The leading PR trade association, the Public Relations Society of America, is calling on its 20,000 members to organize a "broad grassroots initiative to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to postpone its scheduled June 2 vote on the biennial review of regulations for broadcast ownership." The group, which represents government, corporate, institutional and individual public relations practitioners, says it advocates postponement of the FCC vote "until the Commission proactively encourages full public participation in an open, robust debate and discussion of this critically important issue." "This is a matter of transparency," said PRSA president and CEO Reed Bolton Byrum. "We encourage free and open debate of salient issues in our society - whether in government or institutional America."