September 29, 2010
Written by Gregg Brekke

The 28th annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture and Awards event, held Sept. 29 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., honored two communications professionals for their significant contributions to improving access and inclusion in media coverage and technologies. FCC Commissioner the Hon. Mignon Clyburn delivered the keynote address.

More than 200 people gathered – representing various government agency, policy organizations, communications outlets and providers, and including a significant contingent of National Council of Churches Communication Commission participants – in this annual event honoring the legacy of the Rev. Everett C. Parker, who in 1959 founded the faith-based media reform organization, the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc.

Marcellus Alexander received the Donald H. McGannon Award, which recognizes special contributions in advancing the roles of women and people of color in the media. McGannon currently is executive vice president for television of the National Association of Broadcasters and president of the Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation. During his career in broadcasting and broadcast management, he has worked to provide opportunities for many individuals to achieve their professional goals in radio and television.

In his acceptance speech, Alexander called the award "particularly meaningful" and recounted his early career as an employee of Donald McGannon, first at Westinghouse and then at CBS upon its merger. "People of difference – age, gender ability and socio-economic background – provide strength to what we do," said Alexander of the award and his continued commitment to diversity among communications professionals.

Carol Pierson received the Everett C. Parker Award in recognition of her work that embodied the principles and values of the public interest in telecommunications and the media. Pierson is the recently retired president and CEO of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) and the co-founder of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Her work in bringing broadcast coverage to remote Native American and Latino communities was especially recognized, in addition to her continued work on low-power FM service initiatives.

Prior to her work with NFCB, Pierson worked at KQED-FM in San Francisco, WGBH-FM in Boston and WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In recalling that hundreds of new radio stations are on the air via her work in low-power FM, she noted that "the assumption is that new technology replaces the old, but it rarely does." Her assessment on the current broadcasting landscape mentioned the prominence of the internet, while reaffirming the cost-effective and near-universal access across socio-economic and cultural lines to radio and television.

Everett Parker, now 96 and living in New York, attended the event with his son Truman and grandson Benjamin of Idaho. Prior to the keynote address, Parker addressed the group with a few words.

"We must continue the work of bringing talented women and people of minority groups into communications leadership," he said. He continued by noting that although the Federal Communications Commission had appointed several female commissioners, it had never appointed a woman as chief commissioner.

Following this introduction and challenge, Clyburn delivered the keynote address. Prior to her appointment to the federal post, Clyburn served 11 years on the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. She also served as publisher and general manager of "The Coastal Times," a weekly Charleston newspaper focusing on pertinent issues in the African-American community.

She began by noting the FCC was nominated the most improved federal agency in 2009. Recalling the major overhaul initiated in the era when Everett Parker was the director of OC Inc., she thanked him for his continued interest in the public good presented by broadcasting.

Initiatives of particular concern for Clyburn include the expansion of broadband internet to all communities and economic groups, and efforts to encourage "digital literacy" in underrepresented groups.

"Television freed remote communities from information isolation," Clyburn said.

"With the internet, all borders were removed," she added, but noted that not all population groups have access to what she called an "essential tool" in education and economic advancement.

"People shouldn't have to choose between paying their food bill and paying for broadband," she said, noting the 10 percent coverage of broadband on Indian lands and in economically challenged areas where "there is no financial incentive" for service providers to add high-speed access. Clyburn concluded by expressing her support for the National Broadband Plan and the creation of a National Digital Service Corps, similar to the AmeriCorps teaching initiative.

The 2010 event was sponsored by Comcast, Google, Verizon and others including the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries, the UCC's National and Global Ministries, and the Odyssey Networks.

United Church of Christ News Service