News Association, the Pew Research Center, and others has documented the continued challenges of increasing diversity among all types of media entities. (6) With increasing media experience and sophistication, it is even more important to have minority participation in local media to ensure a diverse range of information sources are available and different ideas and viewpoints are expressed to strengthen social cohesion among different communities. (7) The constriction in small, independent, and diverse media outlets and limited participation of diverse populations in media ownership and decisionmaking are combining to negatively impact our goal of increasing local civic engagement and civic knowledge through increased voter participation, membership in civic groups, and knowledge of local political and civil information. 15302. Sense of Congress That the Congress— (1) reaffirms its commitment to diversity as a core tenet of the public interest standard in media policy