War of Words: The Assault on the First Amendment

Member Group : Guest Articles

Yesterday in Washington DC, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age" open the most unabashed assault on the First Amendment since the days of Woodrow Wilson. Composed of a veritable Who’s Who of liberal, minority and woman’s group representatives, this stacked deck will hold the fate of Conservative Talk Radio, Fox News and even the Internet in their hands.
Under liberal Acting Chairman Michael Copps, the rest of the committee are:

Henry Rivera, Emma Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media (Chairperson)

Raul Alarcon, Jr., Spanish Broadcasting System

Jenny Alonzo, Mio.TV

James M. Assey, Jr., National Cable and Telecommunications Association

Geoffrey C. Blackwell, Chickasaw Nation Industries, Inc.

Matthew Blank, Showtime Networks

Maria E. Brennan, American Women in Radio and Television

Kathy Brown, Verizon

Toni Cook Bush, Virgin Mobile

Alan B. Davidson, Google, Inc.

Ralph de la Vega, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets

Steve Hillard, Council Tree Communications

David Honig, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council

Rodney
Hood, National Credit Union Administration

Ronald Johnson, Ronson Network Services

Debra Lee, BET Holdings, Inc.

Jane Mago, National Association of Broadcasters

Robert Mendez, ABC Television Network

Marc H. Morial, National Urban League

Karen K. Narasaki, Asian American Justice Center

Melissa Newman, Qwest

Jake Oliver, Afro-American Newspapers

Susan K. Patrick, Patrick Communications

Lisa Pickrum, The RLJ Companies

Rey Ramsey, One Economy Corporation

Michael V. Roberts, Roberts Broadcasting Companies LLC

Andrew Schwartzman, Media Access Project

Anita Stephens Graham, Opportunity Capital Partners

Diane Sutter, Shooting Star Broadcasting

Charles Warfield, Inner City Broadcasting

James Winston, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters

Conspicuously abscent are any representatives from Conservative groups.
In a report from Director of Communications of the Media Research center Seton
Motley who attended the initial meeting, he reported Chairman Copp’s opening
statement insisted the meeting was nothing to do with the Fairness Doctrine.

The meeting then went on to announce the FCC auction of 700 MHZ Broadband licenses and that few were purchased by minorities or women. A representative of Commissioner Adelstein termed the results ‘Unconscionable!". There was a suggestion of caps or set-asides be considered, and an unquestioned reaffirmantion of the Liberal maxim, "Diversity is our strength." Looking at the composition of this committee, it appears to be a local truism.

When Commissioner Robert McDowell arrived and addressed the committee, he noted the lack of political philosophy diversity, he suggested anyone who feels unrepresented on this committee should contact him to be considered for inclusion. His contact informantion is :

Commissioner McDowell’s Contact Information
Room: 8-C302 • Phone: 202.418.2200 • E-mail

What followed was discussions of access to lending for those less than normally
acceptable to be able to enter the radio and Internet market. Is anyone surprised a group of this composition would be working toward a version of "The Community Reinvestment Act" to suit their purposes and will anyone be surprised when these uckly station owners come back for a bail out when their stations follows the fate of liberal talk Radio America.

There will be more meetings and I will undertake to publish articles here because what is transpiring in this committee is a shamefull attack on the few Conservative news outlets and the power of the president is behind this move.