FCC Chief Powell to step down

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

Link

FCC chief stepping down
Agency officials confirm
news of Powell's departure
Michael Powell was named FCC chairman in 2001 by President Bush after serving as a commissioner since 1997.
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:27 a.m. ET Jan. 21, 2005

NEW YORK - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell plans to step down from the job he’s held for four years, two agency officials said Friday.

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Powell, who maintained a light regulatory hand as the nation’s chief media watchdog but collected some of the largest indecency fines against U.S. broadcasters, planned to issue a statement Friday but was not expected to hold a formal news conference, these officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Powell, the son of departing Secretary of State Colin Powell, does not plan to step down immediately, the officials said. However, he will leave soon.

Powell privately informed some industry officials that he planned to make the announcement, according to one person who spoke with the chairman earlier this week. This person also spoke on condition of anonymity out of respect for the timing of Powell’s announcement.

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What was the biggest issue while Powell was chairman?

Powell, a champion of deregulation who critics say is too pro-big business, rose from commissioner to chairman when Bush took office in 2001. His term was to run until 2007.

While tackling complex issue ranging from telephone competition to rules for media ownership, Powell is perhaps best known for overseeing a dramatic crackdown on broadcast indecency that began before the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during singer Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl halftime performance last February.

The FCC received more than 1 million indecency complaints in 2004, most of them involving Jackson. CBS is contesting a proposed FCC fine of $550,000 for the incident.

Fines for indecent programming exceeded $7.7 million last year, a huge increase from the $48,000 imposed the year before Powell became chairman. Powell has praised the record fines, saying the commission was “wielding our sword” to protect children and viewers who object to racy programming.

“It’s the most uncomfortable area you’d ever want to work in, enforcement,” Powell said of indecency fines at a July 2004 symposium. “I’m a big believer in the First Amendment, but often I’m incredibly uneasy about lines we have to draw. No one takes pleasure in trying to decide whether this potty-mouth word or that potty-mouth word is a violation of the law.”

However, critics claimed Powell and the FCC are seeking to stifle free speech and intimidate broadcasters into following a more conservative agenda.

Powell succeeded in getting the Republican-dominated FCC to ease decades-old rules governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations. The commission approved changes in 2003 that allow individual companies to own TV stations reaching nearly half the nation’s viewers and combinations of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same community.

Major media companies said the changes were needed because the old regulations hindered their ability to grow and compete in a market altered by cable television, satellite broadcasting and the Internet.

But lawmakers from both parties and a broad range of groups criticized the changes, saying the FCC regulations give large media companies too much control over what people see, hear and read.

Congress and the courts are considering several efforts to modify or repeal the rules.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Stravo]

Hallefuckingluyah. This asshole has been the buttboy of fundie "family values" groups since that pathetic wrdribe malfunctions, driving DJ's into Satellite Radio to get away from the Puritanical bullshit that's been hovering over broadcast media for a year now. When 98% of your complainst are coming from a single group and you drive your agenda based on those complaints there is no fucking way you are acting in the best interests of the people. You're bending over and taking it up the ass without lube for Jesus.

Fuck you Powell. Goodbye and good fucking riddance.

[Keevan_Colton]

However, he will leave soon

Not soon enough, but I'll take what I can get.

[aerius]

Does this mean you'll finally get to see boobies on TV again?

[Chmee]

Wow, nepotism works both ways ... dad's out, he's out.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Does this mean you'll finally get to see boobies on TV again?

Perhaps. They'll be replacing him with someone less strict hopefully. Maybe a former Nazi commandant.

[McC]

Not to rain on the parade, but who's to say his replacement won't be worse?

[phongn]

Other than the censorship mess he did do a few useful things like ensuring that VOIP wouldn't be strangled by normal telecom regulation and taxation.

[Admiral Valdemar]

But we must stop this amoral trash from entering the minds of the easily corruptible or else America will fall in a haze of flames and possibly some brimstone.

[Elheru Aran]

Does this mean you'll finally get to see boobies on TV again?

Sorry to rain on your parade, but like fucking hell that'll happen... *points to profusion of red states on political map* We haven't seen tits on network TV, ever, as far as I know; maybe a few sideways views on late-night television... but I doubt that's gonna change anytime soon, Powell or not.

[Uraniun235]

Bare breasts have been seen on Oregon Public Broadcasting; I remember watching an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus as a young lad of maybe 12 or so and being quite surprised when they cut to a store interior with a topless woman standing behind the counter.

This was at around 10 PM, IIRC. But then, this was also quite some time ago.

[The Yosemite Bear]

free at last, free at last, our air waves are free at last.