TMZ, 700 Club Pass FCC's News Test: "Bona Fide Newscasts"

In a development certain to astonish, the FCC has ruled that Fox's "TMZ" and the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club" are "bona fide newscasts." Variety reports:

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled as such in the cases of Fox's "TMZ" and the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club," declaring Friday that each show meets the test for "a bona fide newscast" and therefore would not trigger political equal-time requirements...

...Celebrity ambulance-chaser "TMZ" argued that it contained genuine news value similar to that of "Entertainment Tonight," which received bona fide newscast status in 1988.

The FCC also considers whether a program "reports news of some area of current events, in a manner similar to more traditional newscasts," according to the agency. CBN argued "The 700 Club" does precisely that.

In both cases the commission agreed.

Related: Pat Robertson Laughs About His Cocaine-Using Pal On "700 Club"

Related: "We're Talking About TMZ, Which Is A Third-Rate Gossip Site": CNN's Carol Costello, Internet Expert

Comments

[lewes17266]

Pat Robertson, who is God's holy prophet, helped his fake holyman son cheat on his wife with a stalker. He has been getting away with a scam for years, making himself wealthy off of faithfuls. He invokes God in all his wrongs, making it impossible for anyone to ask him a reasonable question about his conduct and abuses. That anyone in a position of trust would give this fraud any kind of recognition is laughable. Pat Robertson smears anyone who confronts him about his abuses. They all cover up for one another - those tv holy people who work in "signs and wonders and in the realm of miracles." I am beginning to believe the press covers up for them also, there is just no explanation for them looking the other way. They all know the man is a fraud and a liar. They all know about Gordon's affair with this stalker.

[lewes17266]

Pat Robertson is a fraud and so much worse. This is disgusting.

[SharonB]

TMZ employees are rats crawling in the garbage of humanity.

[javaman]

not only has freedom of the press been marginalized, it's now been humiliated.

[wadenelson1]

This begs the question, "What DOESN'T qualify as 'news.'"

[filo]

FOX

[wadenelson1]

TMZ isn't news period. The Republicans running this country are idiots. Period.

[Chavez08]

If a Democrat is elected in November, I expect and demand that **every f*&king policy and legislation** created during the Bush and Reagan years be reversed immediately (within weeks). If it can be brought to order and passed within days, it can be un-done within days, period.

If Obama and Hillary are truly serious, they will make this happen in short order. If, after election, we hear statements like "It's not that easy.." or "..too radical.." we will know instantly we've been duped and they, like the past 4 presidents, are puppets for the Overlords.

Then it will be time for revolution by *all means necessary*

[Dissident Dexter]

amen. here endith the lesson.

[cowboyfan88]

You people need to grow up. Fox news and CBN are just as much news as all the others. You left wingers cannot fathom someone having a differing opinion like yours. You cry and moan when some left wing kook gets a lot of airtime and his stupid opinions are being brought out in the open. Not all conservatives agree with most of what Pat Robertson says just as all dems don't agree with Wright. Get over it. You can't stand that Fox news is a winner in the ratings because most of us in this country have conservative values and they give us real news.

[MNCurler]

Don't bother Cowboy- these morons will never understand that. To the Left there is only one opinion- theirs! Anything else has to be trashed and ridiculed. That's the way they operate. And then they have the nerve to call themselves open-minded. Yeah right.

[wadenelson1]

You seem to confuse left wing and right wing in your post Cowboy.

[Dissident Dexter]

1) NEWS IS SUPPOSED TO BE NEUTRAL, MORON.
2) OPINIONS ARE NOT NEWS, THEY ARE SUBJECTIVE, NOT OBJECTIVE. LOOK THEM UP, WE BOTH KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THOSE WORDS MEAN.
3)70% OF THIS COUNTRY HOLD TO LIBERAL VALUES. I'LL BET YOU STILL THINK BUSH IS A COWBOY, DON'T YOU, COWBOY FAN. SAVE YOUR MAN LOVE FOR THE LOCKERROOM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM.

[ChristianEcon.com]

I always thought Fox News greatly resembled CBN News.

[Paw1]

Is there any further proof required as to the irrelevance of the FCC?

[Schnitzel]

I'm not sure what's worse:
The condition of the FCC for considering this garbage legitimate "Journalism, or "Legitimate" journalisms standards being lowered enough to make it indistinguishable from this garbage.

[Counterglow]

If you use CNN as a standard for judging, the FCC has a point.

[izAriver]

Do comedians even bother writing jokes anymore or do they just read the news? This is simply ridiculous.

[mamacat]

So this is what our nation has become. Bush and his ilk have put the regulatees in charge of the regulators, and they think they are serving a greater good. Somewhere in heaven another angel has lost her wings, somewhere in hell another demon has gotten his horns.

[ibsteve2u]

Hey - if censored, biased, and warped news is what it takes to protect Bill O'Rielly's money, then BY GOD we'll have censored, biased, and warped news!