Robert McDowell is one of two Republican commissioners at Barack Obama's Federal Communications Commission. Today, McDowell wrote an op-ed for the Daily Caller warning that the FCC would probably move to promote greater localism in the coming year. "In that arena [of broadcast regulation], we often aren’t talking about the future, or even the present–instead, we keep talking about the past. And so, as the FCC undertakes a new review of its broadcast ownership rules this year, I expect to hear renewed calls for reimposing various 'localism' rules on TV and radio stations."
Localism is a radical codeword for taking power from broadcasting companies and giving it to smaller, minority-owned TV and radio stations. It's a scheme to censor conservative radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh without passing messy legislation like the Fairness Doctrine. It is also a wealth distribution scheme designed to tax private broadcasters and pass the money to NPR. Mark Lloyd, Barack Obama's diversity czar at the FCC, is a huge fan of localism and has even praised Hugo Chavez for shutting down commercial broadcasting stations in Venezuela.
No comments:
Post a Comment