Or was that a wink? As others have pointed out, the FCC has backed off on their plan to swagger into the nation's radio, TV and newspaper newsrooms* and see if you and I have been missing out on news the FCC thinks we should see.
Or at least they say they have dropped the plan. Maybe it'll come back in some "kindler, gentler" form, only a little repackaged. And to think, the Federal legislation that prompted this fool mess simply requires the FCC to look to barriers to minority ownership of broadcast outlets. How's that require snooping into how stations cover the news? This isn't "mission creep," it's more like "mission gone wild."
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* They don't actually regulate newspapers and print media has no tradition of having to make nice in that way, so it was going to be a real teaching-the-pig-to-sing moment and an open question who was the pig and who was the music teacher.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
6 comments:
Yeah, this will be back when it's less embarassing, probably tacked onto the farm bill or continuing resolution or something.
Stay vigilant.
Mission creep?
They ARE the mission creeps!
gfa
Well, at least we know the media isn't completely baked during this administration.
I have a strange notion that very few newspapers would resist the encroachment of the FCC, provided it's done in a manner which doesn't place the Overculture in the embarrassing position of openly submitting to government oversight. Government service has a special attraction for the Left side of the political spectrum; the FCC imposing kommissars on the press would be a family reunion of sorts.
You might be surprised -- then again, most newspaper newsrooms are ghost towns. Perhaps they'd welcome the company.
The FCC has always been a strange animal. Back in the '70's when C.W. McCall wrote that song that started the C.B. boom everyone had to get a license to operate a C.B. A few years later you didn't need one. Then we discovered side band, upper channels and kickers, ah yes kickers. With a black cat linear, a handful of 6lq6's and a little ingenuity you could pump out about 2-1/2 horsepower through the moonraker all day and night long... and the FCC didn't care.
Now that cell phones are all the rage I don't know that you'd get away with it, but you'd probably be off the NSA's radar.
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