Censorship of AFVN news in Vietnam

In this time of increasing pressure against incumbent licensees at renewal time, all aspects of the renewal process have come into sharper focus and importance. One topic of special interest has been the licensee's “Ascertainment of Community Needs”; section of his renewal form. Hoping to make the process more realistic, the FCC issued revised guidelines on the ascertainment process early in 1971. This issue of the Journal offers four articles exploring the present status of ascertainment, beginning with this overview of a sample of western television licensees which compares ascertainment filings in 1968 (before the FCC Primer) and 1971 (among the first filed afterwards) and demonstrates that the new FCC policy is having a telling effect. Dr. Joseph Foley is assistant professor of speech communications at Ohio State University.