Obama’s Plan To Censor The News Media

The Federal Communications Commission is about to launch a direct assault on the freedom of media to cover news as it chooses. The program, called the Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs involves requesting information from all radio and television stations — and newspapers — about how they cover news, who decides what gets covered, and what criteria they use in the decision. The FCC will also conduct a “content analysis” of one week’s coverage to decide whether each of eight “critical” categories of news are being given adequate attention.

While the results of the study will not impose mandatory changes on the media’s news decisions, the recommendations of the FCC will carry the weight of law since all radio and television stations must come up for license renewals every eight years. Newspapers — which are clearly outside the jurisdiction of the FCC — are under no such constraint, but will be evaluated anyway.

The study is in response to another study, this one conducted by the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California, which found that minorities were not being adequately served by media news and that critical areas were being underreported.

No surprise, the “critical areas” include such liberal topics as the environment and economic opportunity.

More