An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
FCC Plays Hide and Seek
Mark Lloyd, whose grand title is “Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer”, has come up with this brilliant idea of providing broadband internet access to every single American. Sounds nice, eh? Well, I’m a bit confused. There are companies that already provide access to the internet. Privately owned companies, you know, the kind of companies that actually provides jobs for the general public.
Granted, when you live out in the middle of nowhere, sometimes, it’s difficult to get high speed internet. For those areas, there are satellite types, like Wild Blue, and Hughes Net. Yes, you have to pay for access, no matter where you live, whatever company you choose, however you get your internet. Well, unless of course, you go to your local public library, and there you get free access, funded by taxpayer money. Rather nice of the public, eh? 
Now, here comes the big question: What’s the problem? Don’t you want everyone to get their news on the internet? Well, sure, if they pay the bill, I have no problem with it at all! But that’s not really the issue.
Notice that “chief diversity officer” part? Well, that’s where the problem comes in.
The definition of diversity: 1. the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness. 2. variety; multiformity. 3. a point of difference. How about a few synonyms: change, difference, variation, dissimilarity.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law on February 17, 2009. The Broadband Initiatives funded in the Act are intended to accelerate broadband deployment in unserved, underserved, and rural areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits.
So, our tax dollars are being spent on something the private sector has been already doing for a while now. Um….why?
There have been a few ‘open’ meetings held by the FCC, supposedly to inform the public, and respond to concerns. Now, you might be asking yourself why should anyone care if folks get the internet? Well, if that were all that was involved, there really wouldn’t be any reason for concern. At the recent ‘field meeting’ held in Charleston, SC:
True to form the FCC was in full regulatory mode at today’s so-called field hearing in Charleston -censuring any conversation they deemed unworthy. What was billed as a means to solicit input on a National Broadband Plan was nothing more than a staged discussion on the need for increased access to broadband by the FCC and their hand-picked panelists.
It’s indeed disheartening that Commissioners Clyburn and Copps would not accept any questions a number of attendees had regarding the role Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd will have in the process. While most people agree that more access to broadband technology is needed, there is real concern that Mr. Lloyd -who has been identified as having a seat at the table -will use development of this plan as a means to regulate speech.
Mr. Lloyd’s position regarding free speech -which he terms a “distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies” -along with his and the FCC’s association with the radical media reform group Free Press must be part ofthe broadband conversation if they are serious about this being the “transparent” process Ms. Clyburn described.
Free speech is a distraction? I see. So, the 1st Amendment isn’t relevant? I’m so glad that was clarified.
Evidently, the same song and dance is being planned in Memphis. What is suppose to be an open session, held on a specific day, a specific time, at a specific place. At one point, it was going to be held this coming Monday, Dec 7, at the Civil Rights Museum. Well, that’s now been changed. I understand it’s been changed a few times. Now, according to the site, Broadband.gov, the meeting will be held on Dec. 14. No place, no time, just the date. Could it be that Lloyd and the FCC don’t really want the public involved? Sure seems that way.
Memphis, TN
Let’s go back to Mark Lloyd, shall we? Prologue to a Farce: Communication and Democracy in America was published in 2006, where Lloyd presented the idea “for making private broadcasting companies pay licensing fees equal to their total operating costs to allow public broadcasting outlets to spend the same on their operations as the private companies do“.
Also, “Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,” Lloyd wrote. “This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. Funding should not come from congressional appropriations. Sponsorship should be prohibited at all public broadcasters.”
Along with this money, Lloyd would regulate much of the programming on these stations to make sure they focused on “diverse views” and government activities. (source)
Enter the very misnamed Free Press. On a recent posting on their blog, there was this little tidbit titled The Internet Must Not Become a Segregated Community that seems to equate the internet to the civil rights struggle of the 60s. Sorry, I don’t see the connection at all. If you work, you can pay your bills. If you have a computer, anyone, and everyone can read, and/or write, on the internet. (Hey! I’m here, right? Proof positive!)
Underneath it all, the issue comes down to control. Control of what you hear, read, and say, through all avenues of the media…radio, television and internet. Oh, and probably what few newspapers will be left at the end of the day. You see, the ‘diversity czar’, and evidently the FCC wants a ‘level playing field’. The thing is, there is no such thing in real life. This isn’t a football game, played in a big stadium, on fake grass. Out in the real world, we are all individuals, with a variety of tastes in music, movies, books, and even politics.
When it comes to politics, conservative Fox News tops in television, where as falling over left MSNBC comes in on the bottom. Talk radio host, very conservative Rush Limbaugh, is the most listened to on the airwaves, but moonbat central, Air America…..is that even still on the air?
So, when the FCC says it’s going to have meetings, open to the public, to discuss the issues at hand, shouldn’t they establish a date, a place, and a time, and leave it? The idea of consistently changing an already established venue makes one wonder. Is the purpose actually not to have the public speak its mind? Perhaps only allowing supporters of “The Plan” are being informed of just where this meeting is to be held in advance, to limit the number of dissenters? Naw. Obama’s people wouldn’t really do such a thing, would they? Or would they. Hmmm…
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