Why President Obama called out the FCC in public

Under administrative law, the Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency, not an executive one. (A rule of thumb: Most agencies headed by more than one person -- like the five-commissioners of the FCC -- tend to be independent agencies.)

The FCC gets its authority from Congress, under the 1934 Communications Act. How much control the President should have over independent agencies has been debated for a long time, but the working principle is that independent agencies operate outside the command of the President.

Trying to influence the FCC from behind closed doors? "That's the no-no," says Reed Hundt, a chairman of the FCC during the Clinton administration. The best course of action for both the President and the commission is to have their discussions happen as in full public view as possible, he said. Which is likely one reason President Obama made, and widely circulated, a video explaining his new stand on matters under the FCC's watch.