U.S. Senators Request Study of Government Spending With Minority-Owned Agencies And Media

Five U.S. Senators have written a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking the organization to conduct a study into the advertising habits of government agencies as it relates to how much they allocate to minority-owned agencies and media outlets.

The five senators are Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

A letter was sent this month to GAO Comptroller General Gene Dodaro asking the agency to issue a report on federal government spending habits with minority-owned publications, public relations firms, advertising agencies, and media companies.

The letter read, in part, “News outlets and media companies owned or published by people of color are critical to ensuring that diverse viewpoints are presented to the American people. As one of the largest advertisers in the United States, the federal government should play an active role in ensuring that minority-owned media outlets have fair opportunities to compete for and be awarded federal advertising contracts.”

On the Senators’ request, National Newspaper Publishers Association CEO Benjamin Chavis said, “The NNPA and NAHP thank Senators Booker, Schumer, Menendez, Hirono and Gillibrand for helping to push for this strategically important GAO inquiry. 2017 should be the year of greater economic equity and parity with respect to more inclusiveness in the billions of dollars spent annually by government departments and agencies on advertising.”

This request from the senators follows another earlier this year by Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Of her request and that of the senators, Norton said, “We believe that this request is particularly timely, because GAO will be conducting an audit of spending by federal agencies on public relations and advertising,” Norton said. “We ask [the GAO] to take this opportunity to consider how much is spent with newspapers and other media companies that are owned by people of color and whose audiences are largely African-American or Hispanic.”

The last time the GAO looked into this was 2007. At that time, the GAO looked at spending on advertising with minority-owned businesses by five government agencies: the Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

It was found that just five percent of the $4.3 billion spent on ad campaigns went to minority-owned businesses.

On the topic of government spending with minority-owned ad agencies, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G.K. Butterfield said, “Historically, there has been a lack of adequate federal government funding granted to disadvantaged and minority-owned advertising agencies. This issue shows the systemic problems that exist across numerous arenas in both the public and private sector.”

by Richard Whitman, Columnist
Courtesy of mediapost