Friday January 21, 2005

It Only Seems Like Good News

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is stepping down. For those who opposed his easy on business, tough on indecency stance, this might seem like a good thing. Things, however, are likely to get worse. Powell, after all, was appointed to the commission by Clinton.

Who will be the next FCC Chairman? Although Bush could install a new commissioner directly into the chairmanship (James Dobson, come on down!), I’m guessing he’ll elevate one of the two Republicans who are currently on the commission — Kathleen Abernathy or Kevin Martin. My bet is on Martin.

How bad would that be? Let’s see. As the Miami Herald details, he carried water for Ken Starr during the Clinton witch hunt, served as the deputy general counsel to Bush/Cheney 2000 and was one of the first legal storm troopers on the ground during the Florida recount. But here’s the beauty part — he’s completely hysterical about indecency. Here’s the intro from a written statement he submitted as part of his testimony before Congress last year:

Television today contains some of the coarsest and most violent programming ever aired — and more of it. Indeed, the networks appear to be designing programs to “push the envelope” and the bounds of decency. At the FCC, we used to receive indecency complaints by the hundreds; now they come in by the hundreds of thousands. Consumers, particularly parents, are increasingly frustrated and, at times, outraged. Something needs to be done.

Sounds like W.’s man.

Posted by jim at 02:58 PM ||