Freepmail me if you want to join my fairness doctrine ping list.
WND reported earlier when the membership of the committee was named. It also was reported when a think tank headed by John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama's transition team, mapped out a strategy in 2007 for clamping down on conservative talk radio by requiring stations to be operated by female and minority owners, which the report showed were statistically more likely to carry liberal political talk shows.
That report found the best strategy for getting equal time for "progressives" on radio lies in mandating "diversity of ownership" without ever needing to mention the former FCC policy of requiring airtime for liberal viewpoints, known as the "Fairness Doctrine," a plan thrown out in the 1980s.
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The mission of the new diversity committee, according to the FCC website, is to "make recommendations to the FCC regarding policies and practices that will further enhance the ability of minorities and women to participate in telecommunications and related industries."
Seton Motley, director of communications for the Media Research Center, further commented on the lineup of 31 activists and media moguls chosen to form the committee.
"Not a single conservative organization is taking part in this commission," Motley writes. "More than a dozen leftist groups are. A little ironic for a 'diversity' panel, is it not?"
At no time during the committee meeting was mention made of a recent Zogby poll that showed 66 percent of American voters opposed the creation of advisory committees designed to promote diversity in the broadcast industry.
Rivera's statements were no less ominous than Copps'.
"The public is here and the press is here so you might want to keep that in mind as you formulate your thoughts," he warned.
Nowhere was the process of selecting committee members explained, nor was there an explanation why conservative groups were not included.
But Rivera did confirm the committee now will begin making suggestions to the FCC on how broadcasters will be required to submit reports on the race and gender of individuals in their companies.
That will be a large part of what the "Diversity Committee" will analyze, Rivera said, with a "race-based rulemaking procedure" possibly in the offing, according to the report.
O'Leary's book warns that the FCC also may look to shortening the broadcast license renewal period from eight years to two, forcing broadcasters to make immediate changes or jeopardize their license.
After the FCC abandoned the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987, talk radio exploded from fewer than 150 stations nationwide to more than 3,000. But many of those stations carry popular syndicated programming from politically conservative hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, prompting some politicians to seek more "balance" on the airwaves.
As WND has reported, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has joined up with other influential Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, in calling for a resurrection of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine."
And President Obama, while he has eschewed support for the "Fairness Doctrine" by name, has made statements in speeches and on the White House website that read as through they were taken directly from Podesta's plan for using "diversity" to make radio more "fair."
The full membership of the committee is listed below:
These clowns are doing everything I’d do in their place if my main objective was to start a second civil war.
It might help his perception if he were actually to *listen* to talk radio.
The Constitution is gonna whip the FCC butt.
Right to carry laws justified once again.
“Is it any wonder that minorities are so often stereotyped and caricatured and that the positive contributions of the minority community are so often overlooked?” Copps claimed, according to the report.
Spoken like a true leftest with guilt written all over his face. Observe his photo http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/copps/
Here’s an aggressive solution for all those with panties in a knot over this:
Let Rush, Hannity, et al go together and buy or build a superpower shortwave station in some friendly nearby country. It would cost a lot less than EIB-One, and shortwave propagates worldwide, and is totally out of the control of the FCC or the US government. They’d have a24/7/365 channel to everywhere the ionosphere take the signal, and thanks to our friends in China, a nice little digital shortwave receiver now can be had for about $15.
This genie is out of the bottle, folks, there’s nothing Copps or Obama or anyone else can do to stop talk radio programming. It may take a little creativity but just look at prohibition - the #1 way to make people stark-raving crazy for something is to have the government take it away!
Too many do-nothings.