February 20, 2014
Thomas Wheeler
(Photo courtesy zimbio.com)
The US Federal Communications Commission announced it will pull back from an unpopular plan that proposed placing a federal agent inside newsrooms across the country, prompting media watchdogs to accuse the government of trying to restrict press freedom.
The FCC first announced the plan, known as the ‘Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,’ (CIN) last year. It presented vague notions about how FCC officials would observe “the process by which stories are selected,” including notions of “perceived station bias” and “perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.”
Ajit Pai, commissioner of the FCC, wrote an editorial for The Wall Street Journal earlier this month complaining that his own agency was planning to “send researchers to grill reporters, editors, and station owners about how they decide which stories to run.”
“But everyone should agree on this: The government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain issues,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission, where I am commissioner, does not agree. Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country…a field test in Columbia, South Carolina, is scheduled to begin this spring.”