(CNSNews.com) -- Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a "confrontational movement" to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC.
| Another one wants to copy the British/European model, with guaranteed employment for the vans that catch illegal satellite dishes and untaxed televisions. |
Lloyd expressed his regulatory call to arms in his 2006 book, "Prologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America" (University of Illinois Press). In the book, Lloyd also said that public broadcasting should be funded through new license fees charged to the nation's private radio and television broadcasters, and that new regulatory fees should be used to fund eight new regional FCC offices.
| Oh goody -- eight times as much regulation! |
These offices would be responsible for monitoring political advertising and commentary, children's educational programs, number of commercials, and content ratings of the programs.
Frequently referencing one of his heroes, left-wing activist Saul Alinsky,
| The American Gramsci. We should be proud of our native prophet. Not every country can boast one of those. |
Lloyd claims in his book that the history of American communications policy has been one of continued corporate control of every form of communication from the telegraph to the Internet.
"Citizen access to popular information has been undermined by bad political decisions," Lloyd wrote. "These decisions date back to the Jacksonian Democrats' refusal to allow the Post Office to continue to operate the telegraph service."
| Clearly we should dig up President Jackson, then hang 'im high. |
Lloyd claimed that neither technology nor liberal reforms have been able to overcome the damage caused when government fails to give everyone an equal voice.
| I'd much rather listen to a trio of the trailing daughters and part-time daughter, accompanied by formerly temporary daughter on the piano. Not all voices were created equal, and I was the generation skipped. |
Throughout history, Lloyd said, "[t]he most powerful communications tool was deliberately placed in the hands of one faction in our republic: commercial industry."
"Neither Progressive era reforms nor new communications technologies have been able to correct the problems resulting from government abdication of a responsibility to advance the equal capability of citizen discourse," Lloyd added.
"Corporate liberty has overwhelmed citizen equality," he wrote.
Government, Lloyd said in his book, is the "only" institution that can manage the communications of the public, arguing that Washington must "ensure" that everyone has an equal ability to communicate.
| Really, all the voice training in the world, and all the public speaking courses in the world, will not give me singing ability equal to the trailing and part-time daughters, nor the public speaking ability of Mr. Wife. Please do not torture me by making me try. My communication skills are best exercised otherwise, and need no government ensurance. |
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