Obamist FCC Announces Crackdown On 'Racist' Radio Ratings

IT BEGINS
from The Radio Equalizer
May 18, 2009

In what appears to be the first stage of a broader, Chavez-style crackdown against talk radio and its audience success, Obama's FCC has taken an official step toward eliminating (or, at best, manipulating) an electronic ratings system his supporters consider "racist".

Using a pager-like device, Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) provides the first truly accurate system for measuring radio listening. Because it is passive, rather than requiring a diary to be manually maintained, opportunities for cheating have virtually been eliminated.

That means stations with small but particularly loyal followings, such as hip-hop outlets, no longer wrongly benefit from distorted record-keeping meant to reward certain FM personalities. In many cases, other formats (especially conservative talk radio) are now experiencing a more accurate reflection of their listenership, leading to improved results.

In addition, the Reverend Al Sharpton's liberal talk show has apparently been hurt by PPM's implementation.

While on the campaign trail, Obama officially condemned the electronic system, registering his opposition in the weeks before the election. Since taking power, he's made good on his promise to fight PPM's implementation, as his FCC orders an inquiry into the matter.
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The Left’s New Back-Door Strategy to Silence Talk Radio

from the Media Research Center
Free Speech Alliance
May 1, 2009

The Left’s New Back-Door Strategy to Silence Talk Radio

The Left is launching a new and more deceptive strategy to implement the so-called “Fairness” Doctrine -- under different names and without a vote in Congress. But their goal remains the same – the silencing of conservative and Christian talk radio.

Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing to use regulatory terms like “diversity,” “localism” and serving the Left’s definition of the “public interest” as new, backdoor “Fairness” Doctrines to indirectly impose radio censorship. This new line of attack could be implemented without a vote in Congress and without ever using the name “Fairness” Doctrine.

Obama’s acting FCC Chairman, Michael Copps, says he believes the government has a role in enforcing media “diversity” -- including the re-examination of station licensing and making popular conservative and Christian radio programming somehow “more reflective” of “public interest!”

Copps added that given the new political climate, “we have a tremendous opportunity going forward to reinvigorate our media, to ensure that the public airwaves truly deliver the kind of news and information that we need to sustain our democratic dialouge and to reflect the great diversity of our country.”

This government intrusion on our Free Speech Rights must be stopped.
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