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You mean "not restricting" YET. They have to gather all their 'data' before they can move forward with any type of "restriction". They also didn't run this by the Congressional oversight committee until it was a done deal. There is more to the "back story" on this new "study" (that now is in backpedal mode). The current Chairman of the FCC did not put this proposal forward, it's a hold-over that the Acting Chairman spearheaded in mid 2013.
This study was put our for public comment last May. Its not like Congress just found out about it.
Congress is largely irrelevant here. The rights were written into the Constitution largely for the protection of the citizens from the government.
There is such a thing as the commerce clause in the US Constitution that grants the Federal Government the power to regulate certain commerce. Congress has passed laws based on this power. The FCC was created by Congress to exercise the rights granted to Congress by the Constitution. So unless what the FCC is doing violates some other part of the Constitution, or exceeds the authority granted to it by Congress then what it is doing is within the bounds of the Constitution.
Its still not clear how the voluntary participation in a study conducted by the FCC violates the rights of an individual or a news organization.
I don't know, I haven't heard. Today was the first I've heard of this, and read the story at the ACLJ Website.
I called my Congressman a few minutes ago and made him aware of it. He hadn't heard anything either (I spoke to one of his aids, of course). He brought the Web site up as we spoke, and was reading the story.
I told him that I thought this was way over the top, seemed to be in violation of the First Amendment (how can you have a Free Press if they feel intimidated by "Government Monitors?") and that I felt that this administration needed to have it's "hand" slapped. This should not happen.
The former Soviet Union controlled the news. People got nothing but lies. We don't want that happening here. It's bad enough that the Leftist media is controlled by Democrats, and are friendly to the administration and push it's policies. It's another thing to have government bureaucrats in News Rooms, making sure of what gets reported (or what doesn't).
Conservatives tend to have manufactured outrage more often than not. I'm not surprised they're opposed to this because many of them are opposed to the data the US census collects as well as the data that is collected regarding race/ethnicity on things from college admission and hiring. Data with facts is a conservative's enemy...
You point out a big difference in Conservatives and Liberals when it comes to "outrage".
Liberals have "outrage" about the fake War on Women and Conservatives have "outrage" about Government Agencies that Target them politically and Constitutional rights - in this case, Freedom of the Press.
You also did a great job about the Conservative concerns about Census Data - that data is not supposed to be used by a Government Agency to Target Media or Internet activity.
Quote:
According to a May article in Communications Daily, Social Solutions International will be paid $917,823 for the study, which also questions news consumers about their habits and numerically codes news content according to how well, in the FCC’s view, it meets the “critical information needs” (CIN) of particular “communities.”
“The FCC has a duty to make sure that the industries it regulates serve the needs of the American public no matter where they live or what financial resources they have,” acting FCC chairwoman Mignon Clyburn said in a May announcement [pdf] of the survey.
That doesn't even make sense - she acts like people are being denied news. The reality is that the FCC (under the direction of Mignon Clyburn) appears to want to regulate what the "news" is to make sure it "suits" an agenda of some sort.
The National Association of Broadcasters wrote a letter that was posted to the comments section of this proposed FCC "study" on July 23, 2013 - that meant exactly nothing to the FCC, since they are going forward with this. They don't like it, and explain exactly why they don't like it, in the very clear and resourced 18 page letter. The letter is well worth a read.
Keep in mind that it's not just the TV Broadcasters that are being "studied", but also Radio, Internet and Social Media and Blog type web sites. This is dangerous because they are acting outside of their defined scope and nobody knows what the goal is. Trust has already been lost in both this Administration AND Government as an entirety. We have already had enough of this interference and even intimidation. The Obama Administration has already gone after a FOX News reporter and the Associated Press with phone taps and secret court orders that they knew nothing about.
Okay, it sounds as though lawmakers (at least Republican lawmakers) are already on top of this, and have written some letters to the FCC. They are concerned, and have said it sounds a lot like the old so-called "Fairness Doctrine" policies resurfacing in a new way.
Since stations are licensed by the FCC, and must renew every eight years, it would be difficult for them to not comply with requests for information on how they choose what stories to cover, etc., which is to be in the form of a questionnaire, purportedly "voluntary."
I think this needs to be stopped dead in it's tracks. This isn't what makes a Free Press. This is very statist, and could easily escalate.
MrClose - You've posted over half a dozen times to 3 separate anti-Obama threads as your last posts.
It's clear you feel very passionately about this, so... My question is...
Why don't you do something about it? If you truly believe that Obama is stripping away freedom of speech and doing all sorts of dastardly things that destroy your liberty, why don't you do something about it?
I suspect it's that you don't actually believe the things you're saying. I suppose a lack of commitment or courage could explain it as well, but the evidence suggests you care more about posting things against the political group you happen not to support rather than actually believing the things you say.
Wow, that made no sense at all.. Your voted for the moron twice didn't you? Common admit it?
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