NationStates Jolt Archive

The FCC, the organization that regulates radio and television broadcasts in the USA, ordered a study on media consolidation two years ago. The study ended up showing that the concentrated ownership of the media in the hands of a few corporations had a negative impact on local news coverage. So what does the FCC do? Do they begin rolling back the trend of media ownership being concentraed in fewer and fewer companies? Nope, they order the study destroyed.

Way to represent the folks who pay your salaries, shitheads. I think there should be a public lynching of the members of the FCC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14836500/

Tell me why we should be surprised? Frankly, it's for this reason the FCC needs to be disbanded entirely. I guess they just took that name anyway because "Ministry of Truth" and "KGB" were already taken. Fuck the FCC. Fuck them dead.

Well.. The FCC is pretty much the political voice of big media. I suppose you're right about what they should be doing, but I don't know why you act so surprised. It's just business as usual, after all.

Well.. The FCC is pretty much the political voice of big media. I suppose you're right about what they should be doing, but I don't know why you act so surprised. It's just business as usual, after all.

I think you're confusing surprise with outrage or indignation.

Well.. The FCC is pretty much the political voice of big media. I suppose you're right about what they should be doing, but I don't know why you act so surprised. It's just business as usual, after all.

Wrong. The FCC is the voice of NOBODY BUT THE FCC. They don't represent business, they don't represent people, and they are unelected, so they don't even represent the voting public. If they represent anything, I think they represent irrational fear.

Broadcasters - even the big ones - live in fear of the FCC because of the way the FCC works. You see, despite what George Carlin says, there *is* no actual list of things you can't say on TV/Radio. If there were a list, corporate broadcasting would be cool with that. The reason corporate broadcasters hate the FCC as much as everyone else is because they won't lay down rules as to what is and is not acceptible, and they will hand out painful fines, and at the same time make it prohibitivly expensive to challenge the fines in court.

It's cheaper to pay the fine then it is to challenge it, and so the legality of the FCCs "rules" and methods have rarely if ever been tested - individual fines have been challenged, but the very unconstitutionality (I can't believe that's actually a word!!!) of their organization and it's actions hasn't been - to my knowledge. If someone corrects me on that, I would welcome the new info :).

Ah, the modern FCC. Where naked female titties and swear words are a bigger crime than an information monopoly straight out of China.

Wrong. The FCC is the voice of NOBODY BUT THE FCC. They don't represent business, they don't represent people, and they are unelected, so they don't even represent the voting public. If they represent anything, I think they represent irrational fear.

Broadcasters - even the big ones - live in fear of the FCC because of the way the FCC works.Actually.. The massive media consolidation & near-extinction of local broadcasters is the direct result of the FCC. They didn't just make it possible, they forced this development & have been for years. If the major media corps can be said to live in fear of the FCC, it can only be because the FCC can't hand them the rest of the world on a silver plate. I suppose it's true that having to compete, even on an only partially free market, is a scary prospect.

"Fuck you very much the FCC for proving free speach isn't free . . ."

Wish I knew where to find the rest of that song I'd link it to you. . .

The FCC's original mandate was strictly to monitor bandwidth usage and broadcast technology. It had absolutely no business with the content of broadcasts, only with licensing methods of broadcasting and preventing signal piracy. At some point, some moron in Congress thought they may as well hand these guys responsibility for enforcing "decency standards" -- I have no idea why -- only Congress never bothered to define any such standards. And the FCC hasn't defined any, and neither have the courts, beyond that not-very-helpful "I know it when I see it" concept.

With the mandate to make up the rules and decide who's breaking them and the power to punish as well, it's hardly surprising that the FCC has become a politicized tool of intimidation. It's also hardly surprising that they have turned from a regulatory agency to, essentially, an extortion racket. All they have to do is threaten an investigation, and the tie-up of license renewals that goes with it, to force broadcasters to cough up 100s of thousands or millions of dollars to make them go away. Meanwhile, what happens to all that money? The FCC was supposed to have used its collected fines to purchase computer equipment for US schools. An investigation a couple of years ago showed that the schools fund was bankrupt and all that money -- several million dollars -- had been spent on first class travel for Colin Powell's son, who was in charge at the time, and other perks for FCC personnel. Not one computer was purchased for any school in the country. Can we say "corruption," kids?

Personally, I also find it interesting that the FCC was given all this power to extort money out of business and citizens, at nearly the same time that the General Accountability Office, which investigates government corruption, had its enforcement powers stripped from it (by Bush Sr.). More power for them to come after us; less power for us to go after them.

"Fuck you very much the FCC for proving free speach isn't free . . ."

Wish I knew where to find the rest of that song I'd link it to you. . .

I got it from edonkey. It's called "The FCC Song" and I think there would be something fitting about downloading it illegally. :D

Edit: Here's the full lyrics
The FCC Song
by Eric Idle

Here's a little number I wrote the other day while out duck hunting with a judge, QUACK


Fuck you very much the FCC
Fuck you very much for fining me
Five thousand bucks a fuck so I'm really out of luck
Thats more than Heidi Fliess was charging me.
So fuck you very much the FCC
For proving that free speech just isn't free
Clear Channel's a dear channel
so Howard Stern must go
Attorney General Ashcroft doesn't like strong words and so
He's charging twice as much as all the drugs for Rush Limbo
so Fuck you all so very much

So fuck you very much dear Mr. Bush
for heroically sitting on your tush
For Halliburton, Enron, all the companies who fail
Lets send them a clear signal and stick Martha straight in jail
She's an uppity rich bitch, but at least she isn't male
So fuck you all so very much

So fuck you dickhead Mr. Cheney too.
Fuck you and fuck everything you do.
Your pace maker must be fake
You haven't got a heart
As far as I'm concerned your just a pasty faced old fart
And as for Condolezza she an intellectual tart
So fuck you all so very much

So fuck you very much the EPA
For giving all Alaska's oil away
It really is a bummer
When I can't fill my Hummer
The ozone a no go zone now that Arnold's here to say
The nuclear winter games are going to take place in LA
So fuck you all so very much

So what the planet fails
Lets save the great white males
And fuck you all so very much

QUACK

And by the way, this is the kind of shit that happens in the name of deregulation. This particular disaster started in 1996 under Clinton, but it's gotten worse un the last five years.

Wrong. The FCC is the voice of NOBODY BUT THE FCC. They don't represent business, they don't represent people, and they are unelected, so they don't even represent the voting public. If they represent anything, I think they represent irrational fear.

Welcome to the Federal Bureaucracy. An organization that is unfettered by most constraints - even changes in Administration or Congress.

They can make regulations that have the force of law (in a manner deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the mid 1990s). Congress passes vague language, and the bureaucracy does whatever it wants.

Up until the Reagan administration the FCC was mostly made up of engineers. They had a realization that the spectrum was limited and wanted to give as many people a chance as possible.

Reagan saw this as over regulation and did away with everything but regulating the band width and replaced the engineers with his friends. They saw the spectrum as a way to make money and control the flow of information. Such things as "equal time" and "fair time" were immediatly done away with. Rules that controlled how many outlets of information an individual could own in a market were done away with. So newspapers could buy all of the electronic media in a market. This is lauded as "free enterprise". The result is most markets there exists a monopoly of information and very few independent broadcasters or newspapers.

Although it theory, "the airwaves belong to the people", they have basically been sold to a small group that controls the thoughts of the people. Remember 1984 was 22 years ago..........

And by the way, this is the kind of shit that happens in the name of deregulation. This particular disaster started in 1996 under Clinton, but it's gotten worse un the last five years.
It's not deregulated until there isn't an FCC.

What exactly is the FCC protecting us from?

It's not deregulated until there isn't an FCC.

What exactly is the FCC protecting us from?

They're protecting you from foul language and independent media.

It's not deregulated until there isn't an FCC.

What exactly is the FCC protecting us from?

Believe it or not, there has to be some government to avoid chaos. Before the "Communications Act of 1934" (and an earlier "Radio Act") Anyone could go anywhere on the spectrum and put out as much power as they wanted. Competition was destroyed by jamming the other person's signal. As people bought radios they wanted to know where their favorite shows were going to be on the dial. Well, if you start assigning band width you quickly find out there is a very limited supply. So who should get a part of it and who owns it once they get it? The decision was made to give a slot to as many people as possible so as much competition as possible would bring as much variety as possible. So if you wanted a piece or wanted to keep a piece you had to broadcast "in the public interest". "The airwaves belong to the people".

So people with a license could only own a limited number of outlets of information in a market so there would be competition for both advertising dollars and information. Competition was thought to be good in a capitalistic society. Both in ideas and economics. So we gained such things as the "equal time" and "fairness" doctrines so there would be competition of thought in a very limited resource (the number of channels available).

Then the Reagan Administration saw this as "overregulation". Everything except the allocation of band width was done away with. Now in most major markets there is little competition over the spectrum for advertising dollars or ideas. This is the new capitalistic reality.

They're protecting you from foul language and independent media.

And not all that attractive bare breasts, don't forget the breasts. :p

And not all that attractive bare breasts, don't forget the breasts. :p
It wasn't even most of a breast, just the nipple.

Tell me why we should be surprised? Frankly, it's for this reason the FCC needs to be disbanded entirely. I guess they just took that name anyway because "Ministry of Truth" and "KGB" were already taken. Fuck the FCC. Fuck them dead.

Yet another one of our innumerable useless government agencies. The ATF, IRS(no, I don't oppose taxes, but the people writing the budget should be the same people collecting taxes, and the IRS makes more mistakes than any taxpayer), GOP and democratic party are all on the same list.

It wasn't even most of a breast, just the nipple.

But the nipple is the best part ;)

Yet another one of our innumerable useless government agencies. The ATF, IRS(no, I don't oppose taxes, but the people writing the budget should be the same people collecting taxes, and the IRS makes more mistakes than any taxpayer), GOP and democratic party are all on the same list.

There are a few good things I'm sure the FCC does, but I don't see why those can't be reassigned to other groups. Same goes for the ATF, considering none of those things are illegal. The IRS needs an overhaul, as does the tax system, and frankly, if we could get rid of both the major parties, it'd be a miracle.

Tell me why we should be surprised? Frankly, it's for this reason the FCC needs to be disbanded entirely. I guess they just took that name anyway because "Ministry of Truth" and "KGB" were already taken. Fuck the FCC. Fuck them dead.

They should just license frequencies and enforce it. No more, no less. You need some sort of order or people would broadcast over each other...or try to.

I got it from edonkey. It's called "The FCC Song" and I think there would be something fitting about downloading it illegally. :D

Edit: Here's the full lyrics


You beat me to it!

I love this song!

They should just license frequencies and enforce it. No more, no less. You need some sort of order or people would broadcast over each other...or try to.

They also need to do more in the way of limiting corporate domination of local markets. That's what the study was showing--that local ownership better served the public. The loosening of the rules came during Clinton--one of his shittier moves--and under Bush, they've tried to make them even looser. Only a massive pushback from grassroots organizers of all political stripes (when I'm on the same side as Safire, you know something's widespread) stopped it from happening, but they're still trying. You just think the media is homogenous now--it could be a hell of a lot worse.

I got it from edonkey. It's called "The FCC Song" and I think there would be something fitting about downloading it illegally. :D

Edit: Here's the full lyrics

I don't think there is an illeagal way to download it, as I recall I downloaded it for free off the origional site . . .

They're protecting you from foul language and independent media.

And teh 3v17 800815!

Ah, some people are still under the impression government agencies actually work for the people. Silly optimists.

I don't think there is an illeagal way to download it, as I recall I downloaded it for free off the origional site . . .
Well, you can get it from an "illegal" service, at the very least. :p