former FCC chair Hundt speaks out on Sinclair

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tim Finin <finin () cs umbc edu>
Date: October 16, 2004 2:32:22 PM GMT+01:00
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: former FCC chair Hundt speaks out on Sinclair

Josh Marshall's talkingPointsMemo blog has an intereting
note from a former FCC chair on the FCC's posiiton
w.r.t. the Sinclair Broadcasting situation.

--

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_10.php#003689

(October 16, 2004 -- 12:47 AM EDT)

Reed Hundt responds to Michael Powell ...

Dear Josh:

As a former FCC chair, I read with interest -- and
disappointment -- the following:

  "Don't look to us to block the airing of a program,"
  Michael Powell told reporters. "I don't know of any
  precedent in which    the commission could do that."

  Eighteen senators, all Democrats, wrote to Powell this
  week and asked him to investigate Sinclair Broadcast
  Group's plan to run the program, "Stolen Honor: Wounds
  That Never Heal," two weeks before the Nov. 2 election."

But no one has asked the FCC to bar Sinclair from showing
the program. There are only two issues for the FCC and only
two requests to Chairman Powell.

The issues are: if Sinclair shows this anti-Kerry propaganda
(which can be downloaded from Internet, lest anyone question
the characterization), then (1) should it also give a free
hour to pro-Kerry content selected by any authentic
progressive organization, and (2) will Sinclair face at
least the prospect after the fact of a review of its
fulfillment of its public interest duties.

And the two requests are: (1) will the Chairman of the FCC
remind Sinclair and other broadcasters by word and deed that
they have public interest obligations, and (2) will the
Chairman of the FCC investigate now, before the propaganda
airs, whether Sinclair has a duty to give an hour to
pro-Kerry content selected by any progressive organization?

Chairman Powell instead pretends that he has been asked to
bar the showing of the propaganda -- which no one has asked
him to do. His remarks are so far off the point, and he is
so intelligent, that one must conclude that he knows what he
is doing and intends the result -- tacit and plain
encouragement of the use of the Sinclair airwaves to pursue
a smear campaign. No broadcast group in the history of
America has ever committed an hour to smearing a
presidential candidate, and no FCC chairman before this one
would have reacted with equanimity to this radical step down
in broadcasting ethics.

By the way, this FCC Chairman had no trouble issuing volumes
of commentary about the obligation of broadcasters not to
air indecent material during hours when children are in the
audience. As important as that obligation is to many people,
no less important to our democracy is the ability to conduct
an election without the bombardment from the airwaves of
station-sponsored propaganda.

In any event, the current FCC Chairman is no stranger to the
White House. They know who he is and what he says. So the
White House can and should remind the Chairman of his duties
and express publicly its expectation that broadcasters will
honor our democracy by playing fair. This is what should
happen. If it is not a prediction of what will happen,
that's a sign of how far out of the mainstream the current
Administration is.

Reed Hundt, FCC Chair 1993-97

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