Legal Commentary

Should FCC Act to Promote ?Real Journalism??

By Jonathan H. Adler

The Hill reports on a comments by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps suggesting that the federal government needs to act to encourage ?real journalism.?

?The commission can act now. It should have acted on the media before now. I am disappointed that it has not,? he said.

The decline of ?real journalism? justifies federal involvement, according to Copps. ?The news is suffering from a bad case of substance abuse,? he said.

The Democratic commissioner pointed to Fox News? Bernie Goldberg and Bill O?Reilly as examples of the problem with today?s media landscape, saying the pair has taken his own words out of context. . . .

The key going forward, according to Copps, is ?making sure there is media about, and originating from, the local communities a station serves.?

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on February 16, 2011 (boomark / email).