Chip Franklin: He's as wrong as rain.
So Chip thought he had me on the Fairness Doctrine yesterday. The KOGO Radio morning man was absolutely convinced of two things: (1) that Democrats were thisclose to reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine on the House floor, soon to move it to the Senate and then the President's desk for signing; and (2) that the FCC falls under the executive branch.
He was wrong on both counts. Realizing that he was losing the argument on the feasibility of anyone ever shutting up Rush Limbaugh, he shifted gears and began harping on the rather picayune point of who actually runs the FCC.
Well, speaking as someone who has written about and researched that agency, I can tell you the FCC is technically independent but that in all regulatory day-to-day operations it is accountable to Congress. Quoting FCC.gov,
About the FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress.
Chip, however, was possessed of the idea that the FCC falls under the Executive Branch and that Ronald Reagan himself killed the Fairness Doctrine. Not to be deterred, Chip found something on the Internet that backed him up ... and when he tired of hearing the truth, he finally shouted me down. Good times.
Bookending our Fairness Doctrine yellfest, we talked about the Roman Polanski case, "SNL's" F-bomb fallout, and what to see and skip this week on TV.
