How do you have freedom of the press if the Federal administration is actively looking into how you do things in the newsroom?
Recently the FCC announced a Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs saying that it wanted to understand the process of which stories are selected, station priorities, content production, populations served, perceived station bias and perceived percent of news dedicated to each of the “critical information needs” in a community. It all sounds rather benign on the surface, they just want to make sure people are getting the news that is relevant to them. However, it could set a dangerous precedent with regard to freedom of the press. One would think it more practical to survey the people receiving the news, but not this administration.
Within the description above, who defines the “critical information needs” of a community? In rural Kansas the critical needs might be weather, tornado and farm reports; while in downtown New York it might be the latest in gun control legislation, recently banned foods and stock prices. From my knee-jerk perception of the present administration, it sounds to me like they will determine what the “needs” are, which creates a serious bias because the United States of America administration is based from Washington D.C., a defined non-state district nestled on the border between Maryland and Virginia; a veritable concrete and steel jungle of urbanization having priorities vastly different from about half the population, at least those living rurally. This is really no more than a survey to find out if news organizations are reporting on the things the administration wants them to. And what if news organizations aren’t? What if the news outlets have different priorities than the administration? Read the rest of this entry »
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