Opinion ID: 303378
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Agency Decision on Review

Text: 8 In the instant case the appellant contends that the Review Board did not reach a reasonable result in its conclusion that Northern Indiana had failed to adduce evidence of any specific or separate [programming] needs in Mishawaka. 5 Northern Indiana asserts instead that, first, at least some separate and distinct programming needs may be presumed from certain facts, essentially demographic and organizational, concerning the characteristics of the community, and, second, that the record in this case contains evidence of programming needs in Mishawaka which are separate and distinct from those of the adjoining central city of South Bend. On the basis of these assertions, Northern Indiana urges that this case be remanded to the Commission, at which time the FCC would be required to weigh the evidence, which Northern Indiana alleges the Review Board did not consider, to determine if it is sufficient to rebut the Commission's Policy Statement. 9 Such a remand, however, would be superfluous in view of the record before the court here. Despite Northern Indiana's assertion that there was some evidence of separate and distinct programming needs presented and that the Review Board failed to consider this evidence, this cannot in light of the record before us be accepted as accurate. As the Board itself stated: 10 While Northern Indiana has put great emphasis on its claim of extensive efforts to meet this issue, the fact is that it has adduced virtually no evidence responsive to the specific questions posed by the issue. It has merely compiled voluminous lists of persons and organizations which by the appellant's own admission are designed to establish nothing more than the fact, virtually always conceded at the outset in cases of this type, as the policy statement specifically notes, that Mishawaka has its own viable municipal institutions, some of which could benefit from additional radio service. . . . First, . . . for example, while the record reveals the existence of substantial minority groups in the community, it is not even alleged that they have any needs; their existence once established, they are never referred to again in connection with existing needs, present service or Northern Indiana's own proposal. Second, to the extent that the surveys which the applicant made do tend to establish some generalized needs in the designated community, they totally fail to establish the crucial fact that such needs are distinguishable from the needs of the rest of the overall South Bend urban area. 6 11 As this extract from the Board's findings makes clear, it is not a question of the Board not conceding the existence of and considering any evidence tending to suggest programming needs in Mishawaka separate and distinct from those in South Bend. Instead, the issue here presented is whether there was sufficient relevant evidence to override the Commission's Policy Statement-a question of the degree and type of evidence in the record, not of the existence of evidence in the first place. 12 While the Board concluded that the evidence which Northern Indiana presented to prove the existence of separate and distinct programming needs in Mishawaka was insufficient to rebut the presumption created by the Commission's Policy Statement, it is unnecessary for the court to reach this question. Instead, we have said we need only find that the Board fairly considered the evidence presented and reached a conclusion which is both reasonable and supported by substantial evidence: 13 If the agency has not shirked [the] fundamental task [of taking a hard look at the relevant issues], . . . the court exercises restraint and affirms the agency's action even though the court would on its own account have made different findings or adopted different standards. . . . If satisfied that the agency has taken a hard look at the issues with the use of reasons and standards, the court will uphold its findings, though of less than ideal clarity, if the agency's path may reasonably be discerned, though of course the court must not be left to guess as to the agency's findings or reasons. 7 14 On the basis of the record before us, we conclude that the Board took the requisite hard look and that its findings are both reasonable and supported by substantial evidence.