Friday November 18, 2005

The New FCC

With yesterday’s news that commissioner Kathleen Abernathy will be leaving the FCC next month—her term was already set to expire when Congress adjourns for the year—the new composition of the FCC is starting to take shape. Although Abernathy is a Republican, critics of the commission’s crackdown on indecency will lose an ally with her departure. As I’ve mentioned before, Republican-led commissions are charged with the tricky political task of deregulating business and technology while regulating content to appease the likes of the Parents Television Council. Abernathy was on the commission to do the former.

In fact, while TV Week—which I’ve cited before—emphasizes that Abernathy’s departure leaves Chairman Kevin Martin in the minority, at least temporarily, a closer look reveals that Abernathy’s departure actually creates an anti-indecency majority on the commission, which will no doubt please Brent Bozell. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Martin’s indecency agenda hasn’t been stonewalled for the last ten months because he doesn’t have a GOP majority. Rather, the split has been between the anti-indecency crusaders, Martin and Democratic commissioner Michael Copps, on the one hand, and Abernathy and Democratic commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, on the other. In two cases last year where the commission denied indecency complaints against episodes of Keen Eddie (pdf) and Off Centre (pdf), Adelstein and Abernathy joined in statements affirming the decision while Martin and Copps both issued dissents. For now, at least, Adelstein will find himself alone.

Two new Republican commissioners are on the way, however. Deborah Taylor Tate, who was nominated by the White House last week, seems to be cut from the Abernathy mold—at least judging from her resume as a regulator and from the fact that the PTC did not throw a party (as it sometimes does) when she was nominated. It remains to be seen how she will come down on questions of indecency. Who the White House appoints to the fifth seat, then, will be crucial, and it’s a safe bet that it will be someone who will reliably vote with Martin and Copps. Then Brent Bozell will have his wish. Last year, the commission issued $7.9 million in indecency fines. This year, it hasn’t issued any at all. 2006 will be the year it catches up.