A Montgomery County bill would require government nominees on the board of Montgomery Community Media. MCM, based in Rockville, produces local news and manages the county's public access TV channels for residents across the county, including Potomac.

Bill 33-26, introduced July 28, would mandate that any community media organization contracting with the county seat government nominees on its board. At least one member would be nominated by the County Council and one by the county executive. The board would be capped at seven voting members, all county residents.

Councilmember Kate Stewart sponsors the bill. Council Vice-President Marilyn Balcombe and Councilmembers Sidney Katz and Shebra Evans co-sponsor it, according to the bill text.

MCM receives about $2.3 million in fiscal year 2027 from a special revenue fund supplied by cable franchise agreements, down from about $2.5 million the prior year, Bethesda Magazine reported. Stewart said the governance requirements mirror those already in place for arts and humanities groups the county contracts with.

MCM CEO Jasmine White opposes the measure. She told Bethesda Magazine on Sept. 17 that the board has the power to hire and fire the CEO and could shutter MCM's news operation.

"People already make assumptions that MCM is a government agency, and that is not true," White said. "I don't know that the organization could ask the public to trust that the work we do is actually independent if we have a council person on our board or an appointee from the county executive's office."

Stewart said the bill's language protects editorial independence, requiring that content and scheduling be determined "independently in the public interest and without government interference." The council's appointee would not have to be a sitting council member. It could be a staffer or any community member, Bethesda Magazine reported.

Stewart also noted that elected officials already sit on the MCM board, including Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman.

Currently, all MCM board members are selected by a nominating committee and confirmed by a board vote. The board can have between three and 15 members, and one to three must be users of the organization's public access services.

Mike Wassenaar, president and CEO of the Alliance for Community Media, submitted a video to the council on Sept. 16 opposing the bill. He said the proposed requirements are out of step with industry best practices. Vernon Ricks, MCM board vice president and former Takoma Park mayor, warned at the Sept. 15 public hearing in Rockville that the bill could turn the organization into an arm of county government, Bethesda Magazine reported.

Beyond board composition, the bill would require community media organizations to comply with the Maryland Open Meetings Act and the Maryland Public Information Act. Board members would have to file financial disclosure statements with the county Ethics Commission. The organizations would also need to adopt a racial equity and social justice policy.

The Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee is scheduled to hold a worksession on the bill Thursday, Oct. 8. Stewart chairs that committee. Katz and Evans are its other members. If the committee recommends passage, the full council would need to vote before the bill expires Dec. 7, when the current council's term ends at noon.