I talk to Paul Matzko who works on technology and abundance issues for the Institute for Human Studies. We examine the history of the FCC and its broad and vague power, the abuse of “news distortion” to distort the news, why the FCC wins even when it loses in court, how each side of our political debate keeps creating the precedents that are used against it—and the “original sin” on which the FCC was founded.
This is a really in-depth discussion and will open your eyes to how serious the problem is and how much of it precedes the current administration. See also the study Paul co-authored a few years ago with highlights from the long history of the political abuse of the FCC. What’s happening now is objectively worse than before—but boy, have we been asking for it.
You can also watch the interview here:
We spend some time addressing the FCC’s role in Donald Trump’s shakedown of CBS, which has since moved one step forward with the resignation of the head of CBS News, following the resignation of the main producer at “60 Minutes.”
The president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, was forced out of her post on Monday, the latest shock wave to hit the news division amid an ongoing showdown involving President Trump, “60 Minutes” and CBS’s parent company, Paramount….
Ms. McMahon’s critics also believed that the reporting at “60 Minutes” had become politically biased, exposing the company to unnecessary criticism. And it was clear that Mr. Trump was paying close attention.
The example of “political bias” given here is “60 Minutes” accurately reporting on the lawlessness of Trump’s attacks on law firms.
Yet Trump has now successfully used the power of the FCC—along with other regulatory agencies, particularly the Federal Trade Commission—to neutralize one of the most famous and influential bastions of investigative journalism. And you can see him following up on this by threatening ABC News over its coverage of his giant $400 million bribe from the Emir of Qatar.
This is a power that needs to be taken away as soon as possible, to protect us from this president, but also so no future president from either party can use it.
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