The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has sent out its 2025 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letters to a randomly selected 5% of radio and television stations, as part of its annual process. The list of selected stations and the August 8 audit letter are available here.
Despite the FCC’s recent push against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—evidenced by its pressure on companies like Verizon and Paramount to drop DEI policies during merger reviews—some analysts expected the audits to be paused. Attorney David Oxenford expressed surprise in a blog post, noting that the FCC not only continued the audits but expanded their scope.
The 2025 audit letter now seeks information on programs favoring specific races, ethnicities, or genders in hiring and employment evaluations, targeting what the FCC calls “invidious” DEI programs deemed discriminatory. This aligns with the agency’s broader efforts to eliminate such policies across industries.
Oxenford emphasized that stations must take the audits seriously, as past failures to provide required information have led to fines. Responses must be uploaded to the FCC-hosted online public inspection files by September 22, 2025.