Tuesday, August 9, 2011

FCC commish warns of back door to Fairness Doctrine

Though much of the discussion about a possible fairness doctrine for broadcasters went away when Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 2010, one Federal Communications Commissioner says there still could be an effort at finding a back door to the rules. Commissioner Robert McDowell told Chris Stirewalt on Monday's Power Play Live that localism, a proposal that gives the federal government the ability to make sure broadcasters serve their communities, could also be used to wedge in principles of the fairness doctrine.

"The government would be compiling data as to what kind of content you were airing and whether the government thought that was appropriate content," McDowell said. "It could be political speech, it could be shows on baking or gardening. But we don't know where the government is headed."

watch full video here

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