FCC Suddenly Relevant As It Approaches 74th Birthday

Tomorrow marks the 74th anniversary of the Communications Act of 1934, the legal framework for federal regulation of all manner of communications through the Federal Communications Commission.

After 74 years, most Americans have more yesterdays than tomorrows. Does the same hold for the FCC?

By many accounts, the FCC is just beginning to flex its muscles. During its first 60 years, the FCC was one of the more obscure federal agencies. In recent years, however, editorial pages -- some with praise, some with a tut-tut, and some with uncontrolled hysterics -- have commented frequently on FCC decisions, or lack thereof.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[TexasDem0]

If the GOP political hacks at the FCC wanted to do something useful, they could ban stroboscopic effects on television.

[darthdarcy]

The FCC should add this slogan to it's emblem...

"A Consolidated Media is Essential to a Properly Functioning Fascism..."

[blueshield]

What a truckload of c**p. My father was senior in the FCC when the agency actually regulated on behalf of the American people, and protected - and obtained full value for - the broadcast spectrum.

The concept, for those unfamilar, is that broadcast resources BELONG TO THE PEOPLE, first, and if commercially exploited MUST be done in a manner that protects the public interest. That was the FCC Charter.

This authority was greedily dismantled by Repubs, with the result that the spectrum was sold off without strings for a fraction of its value, and all meaningful restraints against media conglomerate control have been taken off. If you hate the MSM, here's the reason why.

The FCC is no longer relevant - the horse is long out of the barn.

This idiot writer parrots the Repub fiction: "Regulations that interpose the government between businesses and consumers deny each unfettered access to the other, to the detriment of both. In a free market, demand creates its own supply, and consumers rarely can be made better off." Yeah, that's what Enron said.

[RTIII]

The FCC is HIGHLY relevant.

However, the Rs have basically said, "Government doesn't work and we PROVE IT!" They've gutted the agency and turned it from a regulatory agency into a lap-dog agency. The FCC since Reagan has been the height of American Fascism.

This is the agency we most need to turn around.

After all, the vast majority of Republicans are merely uninformed Democrats.

[wadenelson1]

If the FCC was relevant they would have shut down Fox News by now instead of worrying about Janet Jackson's nipple-slip.