Getting Media Right: A Call to Action

What's likely to happen to Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps' proposal for a Public Value Test for broadcast license renewal? This is obviously a contentious issue, and there probably is no single answer as to whether the government can force broadcasters to meet some objective public interest standard.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is pushing back against a contention by Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps that the government should create new regulations to promote diversity in news programming.

Speaking at the Columbia University School of Journalism, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said that , given what technology and innovation have wrought, this should be America's golden age of communications, news and information. "But the ecosystem is only as strong as its weakest link-and too many links are at the breaking point now. We should be riding on the cusp of an information and civic commons where anyone and everyone can engage, where bountiful news and information flow like water, where guaranteed openness trumps the threat of walled gardens, and where small "d" democracy is practiced on a town square paved with broadband bricks."

Michael J. Copps, one of the five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission, said Thursday that a “public value test” should replace the current licensing system for television and radio stations. The test, he said, “would get us back to the original licensing bargain between broadcasters and the people: in return for free use of airwaves that belong exclusively to the people, licensees agree to serve the public interest as good stewards of a precious national resource.”

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Michael Copps reiterated his support for regulating broadband service under Title II of the Communications Act, the framework governing telephones.