FCC ASSAULT PLANNED ON 1st AMENDMENT

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps seems to be contemplating subjecting broadcasters to a new "public values test" every four years. This is, it seems to me, a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and once again, proof that the Obama Administration is seeking to achieve via regulation what they cannot achieve in the legitimate venue of laws passed by the U.S. Congress, whose job it is to make our laws and make them observing the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.

He said outlets should be mandated to do the following: prove they have made a meaningful commitment to public affairs and news programming, prove they are committed to diversity programming (for instance, by showing that they depict women and minorities), report more to the government about which shows they plan to air, require greater disclosure about who funds political ads and devote 25 percent of their prime-time coverage to local news.

The regulations would apply to all new outlets operating on public airwaves. I would suspect that this means that the FCC cannot touch their real target - Fox News Channel - because it doesn't operate on public airwaves per se but rather on cable.

Mr. Copp, what you propose is un-American at best. You are not an elected official and you are not someone we have chosen to make our laws. You are a bureaucratic functionary and, as such, you have no damned business trying to make public policy. So knock it off you horse's derriere!