The Miami-Dade County School Board has apparently decided that the best way to deal with Palm Beach County public radio is to put on the gloves and come out swinging.
The owner of Miami-based WLRN radio (91.3 FM) is suing to block the purchase of a new public radio station there.
Nothing could make those opposed to fact-based reporting happier than watching a public radio station owner battling to keep another public radio station off the air. To anyone following the ongoing war on facts, it’s just a bonus that this fight is playing out during WLRN’s pledge drive, especially needed this year to help offset the millions lost to federal budget cuts.
An ugly court fight
Miami-Dade County Public Schools holds the broadcasting license for WLRN, the largest public radio station in the state. The nonprofit South Florida Public Media Group (SFPMG) has raised millions for WLRN since 1974 and operates the station for the district.
For years, SFPMG has made clear it also wants to expand public radio into Palm Beach County. It was in the middle of purchasing a station and obtaining a broadcast license when the Miami-Dade school district filed an objection with the Federal Communications Commission. Now, the district has gone further, suing to stop the sale.
The lawsuit may hinge on whether a broadcast lease paying for the new station is owned by the nonprofit or the school district.
The school district is also afraid donors will support the new station at the expense of contributing to WLRN.
The suit hints at some unspecified financial skullduggery. It’s concerned that a new station could siphon listeners, and their contributions (WLRN’s signal reaches southern Palm Beach County).
Can you hear it now?
But anyone who believes there would be meaningful signal overlap with a new public radio station has never been north of Boynton Beach.
WLRN’s signal does not begin to cover sprawling Palm Beach County. As for the fear of losing listeners to a new station, there are tens of thousands of Palm Beach County residents who don’t support WLRN simply because they can’t hear it. The school district won’t lose those listeners because it never had them.
A spokesman for the school board says that the decision to take SFPMG to court was not made lightly. Yet the lawsuit also did not inspire the public discussion such a serious step warranted.
It was rolled up with other unrelated items in a consent agenda, presented to the board for a vote along with other items. Board members unanimously approved the entire consent agenda with no specific reference to the litigation.
It was an inexcusable lack of transparency in a case involving a community treasure, a public radio station.
No winners in this case
The lawsuit was filed hours after the vote to approve of it. Those were not the actions of a board open to hearing from the public about the future of local public radio news.
Absent an out-of-court settlement, it’s hard to find a winner here.
A lawsuit will sap scarce financial resources on both sides. Donors worried their money might pay legal fees could be hesitant to give in the future.
A school district victory would be hollow. In killing off desperately needed local news, it would cripple its credibility as a steward of journalism, and credibility is the only reason WLRN or any other NPR station has supporters at all.
Loyal supporters now opening their wallets to keep WLRN operating have a better grasp of what’s at stake in this case than the board does.
This is not about donor lists or coverage areas. Fact-based journalism is at a tipping point in many parts of America. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has shut its doors after 60 years, and as many as 80 NPR stations could go dark in the coming year.
The Miami-Dade School Board should get out of the courtroom, go back to the negotiating table, and refocus on journalism in the public interest. That’s the reason it was awarded the ownership of public airwaves in the first place.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.
