Deborah Taylor Tate, Republican FCC Commissioner, Steps Down

As expected, Republican Deborah Taylor Tate has announced her resignation as commissioner of the FCC.

Tate has served as an FCC commissioner since 2005, when she was appointed by President Bush, but her term has expired and she was not reconfirmed by Congress.

Tate cast the deciding vote in approving the Sirius-XM merger. She had been holding out from joining her fellow Republicans in support of the merger until the companies agreed to settle charges that they had violated agency rules.

Comments

[lagumbo]

Great news. She need to be gone. She didn't do anything but collect a pay check anyway. That's all Bush's croonies ever did,collect a pay check.

[Cogs]

Here's a government agency that President Obama needs to hit with a weedwacker.

[ceasespin]

FCC petition to improve journalism by introducing consumer advisory labeling on all broadcast news content can be found at FixNewsNow.orgw.org

spread the word, learn more

[KCFreedom]

Don't let the door hit ya...

[ThePhilosopher]

Pity.


=)

[Cambridge9]

I'm waiting for Martin to go. He's one of the most arr.o.gant people I've ever had the displeasure of watching before the Senate oversight committee.

[bellabeach]

Totally agree and maybe some of these pompous a@@es will fade, we need to clean up appointee's from past administration big time!!!

[SangZe]

Maybe there is some hope after all.

[GlennHar]

This is excellent news. Now all we have to do is get rid of the right-wing twit who's Chairman and the way will be cleared for the grown-ups to take over.

[mediaobserver]

It is time to get rid of the FCC in its current form. The entire idea has been flawed since its creation under the Communications Act of 1934. It's marching orders "to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity" have never been clearly defined and enabled this to become a political ping pong ball for seven decades. Jesse Helms used it to keep legitimate business deals from being consumated during the 1990s. Michael Powell used his post as chair to take junkets and then enforce regulations to assist the very media companies that paid for his trips. They don't serve the public interest, only the political interests of their benefactors. Having five people ultimately decide what can and can't go on the air in the information age is anathema to our democratic ideals, especially when it's high time that Congress re-regulated a now non-democratic industry. These should not be political appointments. The women and men who are selected should be independent and knowledgable about the complicated morass that media present in the 21st century. They should no be beholden to News Corp, Comcast, the Democrats of Republicans. Since 1981, when Reagan made Social Darwinism the watchword of this industry and stripped government of its power, the consumers have had every right taken away by a lobbyist influence, money grubbing pack of greedy wolves. It's time for the government to give us back our media.

[szlevi]

Great post. I'm advocating the disbanding of this totally corrupt FCC for years now, ever since Powell took power and started the all-out-sale of our laws and regulations for big telecoms.

[hollybork]

Very interesting post. Thought provoking. Thanks.

[gerrylong]

And why in hell can't we charge those who use the air-waves without paying a nickel (FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, Clear Channel, etc.) a portion of their profit to fund real PUBLIC radio and TV? Not the semi-commercial, incessant fund-raising stuff which they now produce.

We have examples of joint-venture productions of BBC and PBS which have aired in UK, but have been censored in the US, due to congressional interference.

Control of the air-waves has to be made completely independent of the prostitutes who walk the halls of congress.

The greatest information delivery system ever invented by man is being used to enrich some a--holes like GE (NBC), who use the airwaves to enhance their own profits by encouraging us to go to war and dumb down the entire society so that we are stupid enough to elect a George W. Bush as president.

If we could turn that mess around, it would be infinitely easier to solve our other problems, such as health care, the environment, homelessness, etc.

[nyred48]

Tate and Martin (previously Colin Powell’s son, Michael) should be tried before a court of law. They sold our airwaves to media titans (network, satellite, cable) and telcos. They approved consolidations to the detriment of small outfits. ABC, CBS, NBC, Time Warner, Fox, Comcast, Verizon and AT&T are virtual monopolies. The FCC allegedly was the guardian of our airwaves. Now, poor and rural residents must buy digital converters or new TVs because analog is dead.

The Internet, given to us by the inventors of the WWW, free-of-charge, ended in the hands of the telcos. Why does Verizon or any ISP have the right to block a visit to a site or place a pop-up ads on subscriber “bought and paid for” homepages?

Thank Ms. Tate, Mr. Martin, their cabal and Congress for the biggest failure of all. On 9/11, police and firefighters could not communicate because their radio systems were incompatible. The transition from analog to digital is supposed open some bandwidth to first responders. However, when the FCC held an auction, it got only one bid. The idea of a public/private partnership tanked. The bidder would have been responsible for building nationwide, wireless communications, shareware system for public safety.

The FCC has been ineffective for eight years. Police and firefighters might as well use tin cans and string. The FCC has done little to gain funding from congress that might keep us safe in a terror attack. I call this a mental malfunction!

[jesuslovesObama]

Time to give the FCC some teeth again and let them clean up the BS that has transpired with all the deregulation. First on the agenda - dismantle FOX News.

[gfs5541]

Yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

[andyboy]

Now that four companies own everything what difference could it possibly make?

You could put Mickey Mouse in charge.

[Bernique]

good point, andyboy.

[saxmaniac]

Actually, Mickey Mouse IS in charge, since Disney is second only to Murdoch in media holdings. No surprise.

[andyboy]

Obama could in an extreme show of bi-partisanship assign the post to Colin Powell's son.

It's like Jesus naming the Devil to his cabinet. Inclusiveness.

[Bitsko]

You're kidding, right?

[LeftLeaner]

No, bikerdude is NOT kidding.

Powell's son is responsible for much of the harmfully conceived deregulation we are now dealing with.

That's a fact!

[bikerdude]

Powell's son? Talk about a right wing twit.....

[truthglow]

WHOO-WHOO!!! WHOOPIE!!!!!