FCC Chief Addresses Controversy over Proposed Study in U.S. Newsrooms

by Josh Feldman | 7:26 pm, February 20th, 2014 video

 

There’s been some controversy over the past day or so over a proposed FCC study to study newsrooms and what kind of stories are being covered. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler clarified today exactly what the study is meant to do, insisting the FCC “has no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or broadcasters.”
Wheeler sent a letter [PDF] to Republicans on the House Energy & Commerce Committee trying to assuage their concerns. He said that the study is in keeping with the FCC’s duty to “identify and eliminate ‘market entry barriers for entrepreneurs and other small business,’” and to study “whether those barriers affect diversity of media voices.”
Wheeler did add that the FCC will engage in “careful and thorough review” of the study as it currently exists and will “adapt the study in response to these concerns” people have raised about press freedom.
[photo via screengrab]
– –
Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac