The Buddy System

THE BUDDY SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] A disturbing Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last week said that some lobbyists were tipped by FCC staffers about what items would be voted on at upcoming meetings. Information is power, and knowing the agenda ahead of time gave those lobbyists an advantage. Nonpublic information, including public meeting agenda items, shouldn't be disclosed until it is available in a public notice issued. While the commissioners have been pushing for a change in the sunshine laws to permit more than two commissioners to meet in private, that sounds like a commission going in the opposite direction. Why not have a lot more public meetings so the issues they need to hash out together can be done in full view? The GAO report was requested by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the chairman of the House Telecommunications & Internet subcommittee, who wants a more transparent and open FCC process. The public deserves no less, regardless of who is in power.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6487856.html

* The FCC’s Forgotten Mandate
[Commentary] When the FCC was established in 1934, it was tasked with the regulation of the public airwaves in a manner that supports diversity, localism and competition. Yet today we have six companies who control a vast majority of what we see, read and hear; and these same Big Media companies are being given handouts by the FCC that allow them to get even bigger. Somewhere along the way, the FCC has forgotten its commitment to the public. Media shapes our lives in powerful ways, and we should have an equally powerful say in shaping it. We need the FCC to reclaim their mission and invite the public to the table.
http://www.stopbigmedia.com/blog/?p=129