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Every major repressive regime of the modern era has begun with an attempt to control and intimidate the press.


(WASHINGTON, DC) - The Obama Administration’s Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is poised to place government monitors in newsrooms across the country in an absurdly draconian attempt to intimidate and control the media.

Before you dismiss this assertion as utterly preposterous (we all know how that turned out when the Tea Party complained that it was being targeted by the IRS), this bombshell of an accusation comes from an actual FCC Commissioner.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai reveals a brand new Obama Administration program that he fears could be used in “pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.”

As Commissioner Pai explains in the Wall Street Journal:


Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs," or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring.

The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations."


In fact, the FCC is now expanding the bounds of regulatory powers to include newspapers, which it has absolutely no authority no authority over, in its new government monitoring program.

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Ajit Pai's FCC boss walked the whole thing back today. More than walked actually, he danced it back like Spider bringing over Tommy's drink.

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The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed. This trend constitutes a growing threat worldwide and is even endangering freedom of information in countries regarded as democracies. Finland tops the index for the fourth year running, closely followed by Netherlands and Norway, like last year. At the other end of the index, the last three positions are again held by Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea, three countries where freedom of information is non-existent.

Despite occasional turbulence in the past year, these countries continue to be news and information black holes and living hells for the journalists who inhabit them. This year’s index covers 180 countries, one more than last year. The new entry, Belize, has been assigned an enviable position (29th). Cases of violence against journalists are rare in Belize but there were some problems: defamation suits involving demands for large amounts in damages, national security restrictions on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and sometimes unfair management of broadcast frequencies.


http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php#

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

I'm afraid I don't get the Spider / Tommy reference. *shrug*

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Originally posted by reaverfan:
LOL! You guys are precious...

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Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Ajit Pai's FCC boss walked the whole thing back today. More than walked actually, he danced it back like Spider bringing over Tommy's drink.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

Ahh yeah, that scene. I guess I'm not so up on my Goodfellas after all.

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If only Obama's agenda could be stopped with such authority.

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