Administrations of both political parties shamelessly exploited the unlamented “Fairness Doctrine” to harass their critics in the broadcast world, and there’s every reason to believe that proposed “local content” mandates would be open to the same abuse. [John Samples, “Broadcast Localism and the Lessons of the Fairness Doctrine”, Cato Institute Policy Analysis #639, May 27 (PDF)]
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The whole project was illegal from the get go. Maybe the government can “own” the airwaves, but they had no right to engage in speech discrimination in leasing it out.
The FCC should be reduced to technical stuff. The fiascos over Janet’s flash and Bono’s f-bomb are perfect examples of the arbitrariness that occurs when the government plays censor.
And, bluntly, its not the end of the world if we have a free fire zone. if you just want to imagine what that world would look like, just flip over to the cable only channles in your box. look at fx and comedy central. its not so bad, and it is in fact regulated by the desires of the advertising companies.
So, bluntly, abolish the FCC as censor.