By Susan Duclos
Americans are poised to lose even the pretense of a free media as the Obama administration proposes placing "government monitors" in newsrooms across the country" to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run."
According to Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai, "The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations."
There is so much wrong with that one paragraph I don't even know where to start.... who determines what information is "critical" for the purpose of the Obama administration's proposal? Who determines bias? Isn't that percieved by what side of the political aisle you are on? Also, how dare them attempt to decide who is deserving and who is not?
Via Mr. Pai's WSJ op-ed:
How does the FCC plan to dig up all that information? First, the agency selected eight categories of "critical information" such as the "environment" and "economic opportunities," that it believes local newscasters should cover. It plans to ask station managers, news directors, journalists, television anchors and on-air reporters to tell the government about their "news philosophy" and how the station ensures that the community gets critical information.
The FCC also wants to wade into office politics. One question for reporters is: "Have you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with critical information for your customers that was rejected by management?" Follow-up questions ask for specifics about how editorial discretion is exercised, as well as the reasoning behind the decisions.
Participation in the Critical Information Needs study is voluntary—in theory. Unlike the opinion surveys that Americans see on a daily basis and either answer or not, as they wish, the FCC's queries may be hard for the broadcasters to ignore. They would be out of business without an FCC license, which must be renewed every eight years.
There is much more in the op-ed, go read it.
For those that think this is just a proposal, the first feild test starts this spring in Columbia, SC.
In the video below I go over this in more depth and Obama's prior attempts at controlling the media in the video below.
Alternative Media is the wave of the future folks, putting everything out there, trusting readers to decide for themselves what to pay heed to, research more, or even discard rather than the government controlling what is brought to their attention.
Cross posted at Before It's News