Posted on 08/13/2009 3:43:19 AM PDT by Man50D
Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission, has called for making private broadcasting companies pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs to allow public broadcasting outlets to spend the same on their operations as the private companies do.
Lloyd presented the idea in his 2006 book, Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America, published by the University of Illinois Press.
Lloyd’s hope is to dramatically upgrade and revamp the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through new funding drawn from private broadcasters.
The CPB is a non-profit entity that was created by Congress and that currently receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies each year. In fiscal 2009, it is receiving an appropriation of $400 million.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) must be reformed along democratic lines and funded on a substantial level,” Lloyd wrote in his book.
“Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,” Lloyd wrote. “This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. Funding should not come from congressional appropriations. Sponsorship should be prohibited at all public broadcasters.”
Along with this money, Lloyd would regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on “diverse views” and government activities.
“Local public broadcasters and regional and national communications operations should be required to encourage and broadcast diverse views and programs,” wrote Lloyd. “These programs should include coverage of all local, state and federal government meetings, as well as daily news and public issues programming.
“In addition, educational programs for children and adults, and diverse, independent personal and cultural expression should be encouraged,” he wrote.
Dennis Wharton, Executive Vice President of Media Relations at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) told CNSNews.com that his organization, which represents radio and television broadcasters, supports public broadcasting, but that that support should come from the public in general not broadcasters alone.
“NAB supports federal funding for public broadcasting,” said Wharton. “However, we would oppose efforts to fund public broadcasting through fees assessed against free and local broadcasters who are experiencing the worst advertising recession in 50 years.”
Lloyd wrote Prologue to a Farce while a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. In that capacity, he co-authored the 2007 report The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio, which concluded that 91% of talk radio programming is conservative and 9% is “progressive.”
The report argued that large corporate broadcasting networks had driven liberals off the radio, and that diversity of ownership would increase diversity of broadcasting voices.
FCC’s Chief Diversity Officer Wants Private Broadcasters to Pay Sum Equal to Operating Costs to Fund Public Broadcasting"
Thia is just another example of the WELFARE State at work.
“Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission”
A newly appointed socialist, marxist fascist that wants the private radio industry to fund the public radio industry. Aren’t we already doing that? Taxes are supporting public radio right now. Oh, and those stupid fundraisers where they get guilt-ridden liberals to donate.
If this health care debate mess has taught the Democrats anything...it’s that they must have better control over media.
It will come in the form of this kinds of government changes that will allow the administration to shut down some, and pressure others.
It’s coming.
In other words, force private broadcasters to fund State Run Propaganda Broadcasting - seems to me this was done somewhere else as well ... wonder how that turned out?
The lack of listeners has driven liberals off the radio. Naturally, if the situation was reversed, and there was little conservative content, our masters would be proclaiming the wisdom of the Free Market.
Of course, the Nazis had their own solution to this "diversity" problem. They produced a very cheap radio for the masses (the "Volksempfanger") that was so insensitive that it would only pick up the local propaganda outlets. And, of course, it was illegal to listen to any foreign broadcast.
I'm sure this type of "diversity" would be just fine with the Obamamob. No fishy rumors to deal with.
Not suprising because conservative talkradio and the internet is the new news media because the old news media has become the state run media.
.....Making civil war 2 all the more possible.
Man, you got that right!
More Communist thievery from the Obama Administration. I like how they’re now trying to prop up their public broadcast propaganda mills with dollars from private broadcasters. That’s one way to bring back the “Fairness Doctrine”. Make broadcasting so expensive that most private entities in the radio business go belly-up....
“Hitler’s dictatorship differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. His was the first dictatorship [...] which made the complete use of all technical means for domination of its own country. Through technical devices like the radio and loudspeaker, 80 million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man”
Albert Speer said in his final speech at the Nuremberg trials.
Well, Radio Free Europe broadcast anti-communist messages to the Eastern bloc countries. Radio Free Rush will have to do the same to the Socialist Republic of Amerika....
That is right, they are playing with fire and if you play with fire, you will get burned.
“Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,”
Then, let them be commercial operations. The gubmint has NO business in the broadcasting business. There’s $400 million that won’t contribute to the deficit.
It’s time to take back the country.
We, as in “WE” the people, have got to stop this madness.
This admin is building the foundation for a complete totalitarian overthrow of the USA.
ping - Fed takeover of the mass communication outlets
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