GOP Reps. Fear FCC Study Effort to Reintroduce Fairness Doctrine

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The Federal Communications Commission's $900,000 study, "Multi-Market Study of Critical Needs," is drawing fire from Republican legislators who are concerned that the agency is laying the groundwork for reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine, Ad Week reported today.

The Fairness Doctrine, which was implemented by the FCC in 1949, was derided by the agency in 1987 as an unconstitutional infringement on the free press and expunged from the books two years ago (see "TUOL" post 8/24/11). The doctrine was aimed at airing conflicting views about controversial issues and required broadcasters to provide time for a response to personal attacks levied by the broadcasters.

The FCC study that has solons on edge intends to examine how tv stations choose news stories and how the news is produced and prioritized, according to the Ad Week article. Acquiring that data for analytic purposes would involve interviewing journalists about factors that affect their story selection and delving into their news philosophy.

Critics of the study view this as a blatant attempt to influence journalists' political speech. Newly appointed FCC chair Tom Wheeler has until January 10, 2014, to respond to questions posed by the GOP lawmakers, Ad Week reported, including why the study is confined only to the Columbia, South Carolina, market rather than tv markets of varying sizes and geographic locations.

Cruz (Out of) Control; FCC in Limbo

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So little time, so much destruction to reap.

Fresh from leading the GOP 16-day government shutdown, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) this week blocked the scheduled Senate vote Wednesday on Democrat Tom Wheeler, President Obama's choice to head the Federal Communications Commission, Reuters wire service reports.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) can force a vote on the nomination if he can muster 60 Senate votes, generally difficult to do, though there is enough bipartisan detestation of Sen. Cruz that it may be possible.  Republican Congressional staffer Michael O'Rielly's FCC commissioner nomination also is awaiting a Senate vote, leaving what is supposed to be the five-member FCC Commission at loose ends.

Acting FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn also has had to contend with all but a couple dozen of the FCC's 1,700 staffers being furloughed during the shutdown, according to the Reuters article. Perhaps the FCC, overseer of the airwaves, was somehow interfering with the voices Sen. Cruz is hearing in his head chanting "President Cruz in 2017."

President Obama Taps Former Lobbyist to Lead FCC

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President Barack Obama yesterday nominated a 67-year-old former lobbyist for the wireless and cable tv industries to lead the Federal Communications Commission.

Tom Wheeler, a venture capitalist and managing director of the Washington, D.C.-based Core Capital Partners, is the President's choice to replace Julius Genachowski, who resigned in March after four years as chair of the five-member Commission. In the interim, before Wheeler faces a Senate confirmation vote, President Obama appointed FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn acting chair.

Wheeler is the author of Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (2008) and maintains a personal blog, Mobile Musings ("TUOL" is delighted to see a blogger make something of himself). According to reports in the New York Times, Mashable.com and The Wall St. Journal (the first media outlet to report the Wheeler nomination), the former trade association lobbyist will face a number of key votes if approved to helm the FCC, including media consolidation, net neutrality and wireless spectrum revisions.

The Times reported that 37 Senate Democrats sent President Obama a letter throwing their support behind FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in hopes the President would appoint a woman to lead the FCC for the first time ever. Mashable.com noted in its post that Wheeler was a major contributor and volunteered in both of Obama's presidential campaigns, for those intractable believers in coincidence.