VIDEO: The Tar and Feathers Award Goes To…
…Senator Jay Rockefeller, for these memorable words: “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse.”
I think I have an idea of where that bug exactly is.
I’d like to believe the above was said in a moment of exasperation, but coming from Senator Rockefeller, you have to take it seriously whenever he talks about shutting down media outlets:
Regardless, it was a stupid thing to say. The Senator must know that the FCC does not have any such power. First of all, both Fox and MSNBC are cable channels. They don’t need the venerable FCC broadcast license to transmit their content. Second, the FCC can’t pull the plug on any station on the basis of the opinions expressed therein. Freedom of Speech and so on.
Third, how a muzzled press would favor our political discourse is beyond me. On the other hand, it’s easy to see how it would favor many a legislator on the Hill…
