By Ashley Smith
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission was back at his alma mater Monday. Chairman Kevin Martin was a guest speaker at UNC-Chapel Hill to honor a new program being offered on campus.
With the creation of the new Media Law and Policy program at UNC, the university invited one of its most influential alum.
Martin spoke about the current goals of the FCC, acknowledging that one of the biggest issues it's facing is media consolidation.
"I think that that issue still resonates today as being one of the challenging and most controversial issues that the commission ends up dealing with," Martin said.
It's a controversial issue largely in part because, consumer groups like NC PIRG, feel media consolidation can limit the number of local news sources offered to people.
“We're getting fewer perspectives on issues that are facing people out there," said NC PIRG public interest advocate Rob Thompson. "And really we need more perspectives as life gets more complicated, as the world we're living in gets more complex, we need as many perspectives as possible out there reaching the public to inform them of what's going on."
Another contentious issue is network neutrality or regulation of broadband, but advocates call it internet freedom. Martin says the commission has adopted several guidelines in that area but there is much work to be done.
"We've got to find an appropriate balance to make sure that people who are investing in the underlying infrastructure are still able to re-coop that investment,” Martin continued. “And the people that are investing and trying to innovate on the information side are able to make sure the consumers get access to the information.”
Martin says he plans to make progress on both of the issues by soliciting feedback and conducting studies and eventually hopes to find that balance he’s looking for.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Political Science at UNC, Chairman Martin attended Duke University and received his masters in Public Policy.
