Saturday, February 22, 2014

FCC backs away from First Amendment-trashing survey

Thomas Lifson   "As public outrage has built over an FCC plan to put monitors (or as Greta Van Susteren calls them, "spies") into newsrooms and ask questions about philosophy, news judgments, and fulfillment of what the government thinks are "critical information needs," the FCC has backed away. In an official statement from FCC Spokesperson Shannon Gilson full of mealy-mouthed self-justification: "....  Read more:
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Commissioner Ajit Pai, the hero of the story who blew the whistle on the Constitution-shredding venture with a Wall Street Journal op-ed, issued this statement: I welcome today's announcement that the FCC has suspended its "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs," or CIN study. This study would have thrust the federal
government into newsrooms across the country, somewhere it just doesn't belong. The Commission has now recognized that no study by the federal government, now or in the future, should involve asking questions to media owners, news directors, or reporters about their practices. This is an important victory for the First Amendment. And it would not have been possible without the American people making their voices heard. I will remain vigilant that any future initiatives not infringe on our constitutional freedoms.

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