FCC Versus Free Speech

For centuries, our nation’s press has become accustomed to exercising its own news and editorial judgments largely free from government interference. It’s all part of the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of the press. But now, all of that could be about to change, if Obama administration officials have their way.

In May 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced its intention to proceed with what it described as a “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs” that would probe into how members of the news media make editorial decisions on the stories they cover.

At the time, the FCC said the “pilot” study would enable the agency “to ascertain the process by which stories are selected… perceived station bias… and perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.”  Government officials would, of course, determine what they perceive as “bias” and who they decide are “underserved populations.”

Here are some of the invasive—and, in fact, chilling—questions FCC Critical Information Needs (CIN) agents were to ask private news media companies, some of whose broadcast licenses could depend upon providing the FCC the “right” answers:

    “What is the news philosophy of the station?

    “Who decides which stories are covered?”

    “How much does community input influence news coverage decisions?”

    “What are the demographics of the news management staff?”

    “What are the demographics of the news production staff?”

The FCC plans also called for government monitors “crawling” the Internet sites of newspapers, local governments, blogs, non-profits, and citizen journalists. All of which is an affront to the law and the First Amendment.

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