Posted on 03/01/2014 4:48:36 AM PST by abb
The Federal Communications Commission has pulled the plug on a study that sought information on the how local radio and television stations cover news.
The Critical Information Needs study was to be conducted every three years for Congress. It was aimed at eliminating barriers that make entry into the media industry difficult for entrepreneurs and small-business owners.
However, the pilot test for the survey included questions regarding the editorial practices of media and was heavily criticized both inside and outside the FCC. The test was slated for this spring in Columbia, S.C.
Besides general inquiries regarding coverage of issues including the environment and requests for insight into the decision-making process behind a newscast, it also sought details on the relationship between journalists and management.
The inclusion of questions regarding the editorial process of media was seen by critics as out of bounds for a government agency.
Most outspoken was FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who said the FCC had no business poking around newsrooms under the guise of a fact-finding mission.
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(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Typo... Shudnt = Shocking!
There is a very simple way to kill this, and similar acts, once and for all.
Have the Federal Bureaucracy that proposed this action come to Congress and bring ALL of the correspondence with them. If they hold back any correspondence they are immediately defunded for 18 months - no appeals.
Then for each person listed on those documents will testify before Congress, no 5th Amendment cloaking actions, where the idea came from and what part of it is supported by the Constitution and then existing Federal Statues. Failure to testify or provide the links suggested above results in a 6 month suspension. Internally generated bureaucratic justification not approved by Congress is not acceptable.
If the Federal Bureaucracy in question can not produce correspondence with names and titles on them this failure will be viewed the same as not providing the required documents in the first place and will result in an immediate defunding for 18 months - no appeals.
A significant part of problems like this is Congress has abandoned its oversight for “funner things to do” and everyone involved needs to be jerked up HARD.
They will keep bringing it up, each time with more and more championing from the press each time.
I actually have family connections to Mignon Clyburn (FCC Commissioner). She was a former State of SC agency head, I believe. Her dad was head of the SC State Human Affairs Commission. Her mother is a very nice lady. I really don't think this proposal came from her. <
This proposal to have government monitors in the newsroom is so odious in a free society that w need to know who originated this proposal and exactly what they state was their purpose.
If FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai hadn’t blown the whistle on this it might well have gone unnoticed until the FCC was ready to make final rules controlling the press. It is scary that the FCC, certainly at the direction of White House trolls, would be so bold as to openly violate the First Amendment. I fear were are rapidly becoming a totalitarian police state.
Yeah, sure they did...
Bet not have bugs will install.
This must be throughly investigated. It is an attack on the constitution. It cannot just be assumed to be DEAD.
Did it ever dawn on the FCC the ratings at CNN, MSNBC and the alphabets are a clue?
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