Measuring the Economics Driving Investments and Access for Diversity Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1754, the MEDIA Diversity Act, introduced by my colleague from Missouri, Representative Long. This legislation represents another step forward to uplift minority voices and promote diversity in the media marketplace.

I understand how important it is to serve communities with local programming that accurately reflects a community's population. I have also seen the media industry make great strides to promote diversity and create new content to appeal to the communities they serve by establishing programs and initiatives to promote opportunities for women, minorities, veterans, elderly, and other socially disadvantaged individuals to participate in the media marketplace.

Of course, the media industry is only one small part of a vast communications marketplace that encompasses a large variety of organizations, including mobile wireless providers, online video distributors, fixed broadband providers, and so on.

It is also important to keep in mind that there are new entrants in the tech industry who are providing additional opportunities for minorities, women, veterans, and underrepresented groups who might not have been heard before to make their voices heard.

Nonetheless, there is still work to do to make sure that those previously unheard voices and underserved communities are represented in traditional media and all other areas of the large communications marketplace, and this legislation will help.

I am glad to support this piece of bipartisan legislation that will allow the Federal Communications Commission to evaluate the market barriers socially disadvantaged individuals face in the communications marketplace as a whole.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all Members to support this piece of legislation. It is very important. It was introduced by our colleague, Mr. Long from Missouri.

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