Posted on 02/21/2014 8:03:41 AM PST by kristinn
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is trying to douse Republican accusations that his agency is trying to covertly police the editorial decisions of TV news.
In a letter to senior House Republicans released Thursday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency "has no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or broadcasters."
Republicans have picked at an FCC study introduced last spring on "critical information needs" that is intended to examine barriers of entry into the news media industry for small businesses. The study's inquiry included questions such as: "What is the news philosophy of the station?" and "Who decides which stories are covered?"
The FCC is required by law to conduct such research studies, but the commission's critics say this one was an initial foray into an effort to regulate newsrooms' editorial decisions.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
Now explain to me “why” I immediately thought of odumbo telling us we could keep our doctors and health plans?
Just another gubmint lie?
Maybe the real goal is the racial one--they want the newscasts to be 50% geared to African-American issues and interests. That wouldn't be a situation that "looks like America," one of their favorite slogans, but it would be more in line with TV commercials. The FCC could presumably take licenses away from stations that fail to meet the right quota of minority content.
OBAMA’S TOTALITARIAN COMPULSION
Following on the steps of Castro and Maduro, Obama is tightening his grip on the press, not conformed controlling 95% of the media, Obama is pushing towards the control of the whole 100%.
According to the international group “Reporters Without Borders” Index of Press Freedom the U.S. ranked 46, falling 13 places from last year.
Great Britain ranks 33, France 39, and Germany 14. Eastern European countries that were once under Soviet domination do fairly well, as the Czech Republic is ranked 13 and Poland is ranked 19.
The top three countries are Finland, Netherlands and Norway.
To the aged 1960s Marxist-Alinsky campus radical, psycho spoiled brats and the ideological issue of same "diversity" means no conservative opinions allowed. Period!
Sounds like czar and fetters to me.
I can picture Baghdad Bob saying this.
The FCC is ..required...by Law...to conduct WHICH STUDIES was that?
No. The furor got going when an FCC commissioner wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. No pointing at amorphous "Republicans" this time.
Whatever this Fascist Regime denies it will do is Precisely what it intends to do. “If you like your Bill of Rights, you can keep your Bill of Rights”.
From a practical standpoint, however, the left realizes that any effort to resurrect the Fairness Doctrine would be extremely controversial and could be challenged as a violation of the First Amendment. Thus many leftists, rather than openly pursue a new Fairness Doctrine, now seek to achieve the same basic outcome by exploiting a vague FCC rule called “localism.” Localism regulations nebulously stipulate that broadcast stations, in order to maintain their licenses, must "serve the interests" of the communities in their respective listening areas. But these regulations do not recognize audience size or listener loyalty as valid barometers of the degree to which such interests are in fact being served. Rather, those interests are defined in terms of "diversity . . . .here
How much is it going to cost (talking dollars here and not liberty) to monitor the newsrooms? This sounds like another expensive program.
“Police” is such an unpleasant word.
It’ will be be more like “guidance”.
The Zampolits wanted ideologically pure units that represented the party’s views regardless of reality.
Camel. Nose. Tent
“The FCC is required by law to conduct such research studies, but the commission’s critics say this one was an initial foray into an effort to regulate newsrooms’ editorial decisions.
So, an anti-Constitutional fedgov commission is ‘required’ to conduct overtly political litmus testing? And, we are supposed to believe that there is no hidden agenda? With Zero in the White Hut? And, Holder the Red at DO(in)J? And, Reid the Feckless with a stranglehold on the Senate?
Nah. I’m not buyin’ it. Scrap the whole damn thing...
That's so the government will know which barriers are effective, so it can erect more of them.
Nice. And, simple.
Thx.
It is likely that the WH is using the FCC in a ham handed attempt to stifle talk radio by pressuring local radio stations to have more “balanced” content. The FCC looking at print media is an obvious attack against the First Amendment. I am sure that administration operatives are also looking at ways to muzzle Fox News which as a cable channel is not currently regulated by the FCC and to control free speech on the Internet. The US is rapidly becoming a totalitarian state. I could see that what we are seeing in Ukraine and Venezuela where citizens are taking to the streets to oppose their tyrannical governments could be soon happening here.
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