Laurie4b Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304680904579366903828260732 "Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs," or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring. The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations." How does the FCC plan to dig up all that information? First, the agency selected eight categories of "critical information" such as the "environment" and "economic opportunities," that it believes local newscasters should cover. It plans to ask station managers, news directors, journalists, television anchors and on-air reporters to tell the government about their "news philosophy" and how the station ensures that the community gets critical information. The FCC also wants to wade into office politics. One question for reporters is: "Have you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with critical information for your customers that was rejected by management?" Follow-up questions ask for specifics about how editorial discretion is exercised, as well as the reasoning behind the decisions. Participation in the Critical Information Needs study is voluntary—in theory. Unlike the opinion surveys that Americans see on a daily basis and either answer or not, as they wish, the FCC's queries may be hard for the broadcasters to ignore. They would be out of business without an FCC license, which must be renewed every eight years." (There is more to the article) What do you think?I would be interested in the results of such a study, if it were conducted by an entity like a school of journalism, etc. But the fact that it's a regulatory agency doing it does bother me. Can you think of a legitimate reason for a government regulatory agency to do this study? I tend to think that the people consuming the news should decide what we want to read/listen to/watch and that market forces operate from there. It makes me nervous to read that a government regulatory agency is researching which stories should be covered. It tends to open up questions for me of intrusion into freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Do you think there will be an effect from "being studied" on news outlets? What would the FCC use the information for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Another Jen Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Sounds too much like the Ministry of Magic and their Office of Misinformation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I tend to think that the people consuming the news should decide what we want to read/listen to/watch and that market forces operate from there. It makes me nervous to read that a government regulatory agency is researching which stories should be covered. It tends to open up questions for me of intrusion into freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Do you think there will be an effect from "being studied" on news outlets? What would the FCC use the information for? I don't think you have any reason to be nervous. If you like your news source you can keep it. If you like your news anchor, you can keep your news anchor. Period. (I couldn't resist. But then I'm already in a bad mood about gov't "research" because I'm currently being hounded by phone calls to participate in a study by the CDC about vaccinations...of course it's "voluntary", but saying no doesn't deter them at all. Honestly, I think they should stop wasting so much of our money to fund all this "research". ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 On a related note: According to Reporters Without Borders' recent Press Freedom Index, the United States ranks 46th out of 180 countries for "the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillfarm Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Makes me very nervous. The first step in government control of things is to assess the current status. Then weaknesses are identified, solutions are encouraged, then mandated, and next thing you know, we have a government controlled media. However, I am under no illusions that our media is actually "free" right now. Dh has worked in media many years and the fact is that money and influence are kings there, not unbiased information or the needs of the audience. But IMO, the last thing we need is for the government to become more involved in media. We already have many laws on the books that are not being enforced. Currently dh manages a small station and faces a constant struggle to maintain some standard of decency and truthfulness in the face of an onslaught of "sex sells" programming and press releases created merely for the purpose of "spinning" public information. He sees an ever increasing decline in FCC broadcast standards in terms of both quality and content. The state of the media is an excellent thing for high school level homeschoolers to study. They need to understand how much of what they see is designed to manipulate their thinking and control their behaviors. I think this dovetails nicely into that growing teen sense of wanting to be independent and make up their own minds and also gives them a foundation for being aware and informed media consumers throughout their lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Can you think of a legitimate reason for a government regulatory agency to do this study? As a member of the media, my answer is an unequivocal no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 On a related note: According to Reporters Without Borders' recent Press Freedom Index, the United States ranks 46th out of 180 countries for "the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom." I think this has a lot to do with Edward Snowden last year….and our perhaps influence in trying to get Glenn Greenwald's partner detained. As to the OP, I'm OK with the research. I'd love to see the results. Should they perhaps farm it out to an independent research company? Yes, but I think then the results would be that whatever the results, people would say…well XYZ Corp has a notoriously liberal/conservative bias or whatever. The standards/quality of news and mass misinformation reported since the Fairness Doctrine was abolished in 1987 as well as the advent of the 24 hour news channel is frightening. So many people believe that if they heard it on a news channel, then it must be unbiased and true. That worries me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 It sounds like reasonable research. Too much bias and drivel gets passed off as news these days. News gets special airtime considerations over entertainment from the FCC. When the drivers of the latter win over the quality of the former, that policy might need rethinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 On a related note: According to Reporters Without Borders' recent Press Freedom Index, the United States ranks 46th out of 180 countries for "the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations and netizens enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom." This was very informative, especially opening the tabs that gave a specific rundown on the reasons for the rankings of various countries. I was very surprised at the US ranking of 46th, thinking surely we would be near the top and in areas where I knew our practices were poor, I have to admit that I assumed other countries' would be about the same. Thanks for providing the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisbeth Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 It sounds like reasonable research. Too much bias and drivel gets passed off as news these days. News gets special airtime considerations over entertainment from the FCC. When the drivers of the latter win over the quality of the former, that policy might need rethinking. Based on whose standards? That is a very dangerous, slippery slope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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