Although on the surface it looks like the FCC is actually doing something useful for a change instead of worrying about nipples and "dirty words," the NYT raises some serious questions about the agency's latest foray into government control of broadcasting. The NYT reports that
"the agency is reminding broadcasters that viewers are entitled under existing F.C.C. rules to know who seeks to persuade them. In a public notice Wednesday night, the commission said that broadcasters 'generally must clearly disclose to members of their audiences the nature, source and sponsorship of the material that they are viewing.' This requirement is strongest, the notice stated, when 'programming involves political material or the discussion of a controversial issue.'
"Yet while the notice appears to urge more vigorous disclosure, it also states that no disclosure is necessary when news segments are furnished to stations 'without charge or at a nominal charge.'
"Video news releases are customarily provided to news stations without charge."
In the same article the NYT also reports that "A California Democrat accused the Bush administration on Thursday of failing to cooperate fully with the inspector general at the Education Department in an investigation of the government's hiring of Armstrong Williams, a prominent conservative commentator, to promote the president's signature education legislation."
As usual, what the Bush administration giveth with one hand It taketh away with the other. Can anyone here say cover up?
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