Saturday, February 22, 2014

That pesky FCC invasion .. the questions they wanted to ask

The FCC is required by law to conduct media studies. That should be repealed. There is PLENTY of information out there, and having the govt impact what should be available (even if, as on line there plenty of unbelievable baloney), is a MAJOR WORRY. I’d rather see competing university studies granted.
This is a direct quote from the study:
Appendix A: Media Market Census, Qualitative Analysis of Media Providers
In-depth Interview Questions, Stratified by Employment Level

Station Owners, Managers or HR
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• Who is your target audience?
• How do you define critical information that the community needs?
• How do you ensure the community gets this critical information?
• How much does community input influence news coverage decisions?
• What are the demographics of the news management staff (HR)?
• What are the demographics of the on air staff (HR)?
• What are the demographics of the news production staff (HR)?

Corporate, General Managers, News Directors, Editors, etc
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• Who else in your market provides news?
• Who are your main competitors?
• How much news does your station (stations) air every day?
• Is the news produced in-house or is it provided by an outside source?
• Do you employ news people?
• How many reporters and editors do you employ?
• Do you have any reporters or editors assigned to topic “beats”? If so how many and what
are the beats?
• Who decides which stories are covered?
• How much influence do reporters and anchors have in deciding which stories to cover?
• How much does community input influence news coverage decisions?
• How do you define critical information that the community needs?
• How do you ensure the community gets this critical information?

On-Air Staff (Reporters, Anchors)
• What is the news philosophy of the station?
• How much news does your station air every day?
• Who decides which stories are covered?
• How much influence do you have in deciding which stories to cover?
• Have you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with critical information
for your customers (viewers, listeners, readers) that was rejected by management?
o If so, can you give an example?
o What was the reason given for the decision?
o Why do you disagree?
Blogger Iowahawk, easily one of the funniest and most sarcastic folks out there, reminds all that the proper answer to each question is “FUCK YOU”.
By the way, several universities DID compose this ‘media survey’, and how they did is reported HERE. The very PROCESS by which this study emerged is evidence of how corruption weedles its way into our lives.
Something new is invented (radio, TV, mass media), The govt first says, ‘hey if we don't control the broadcast frequencies there will be chaos’ (true) . ‘We, as the govt, should study the impact of how broadcast reaches the people’ (after all, we do have GOOD intent).
Then cable and internet make all that OBSOLETE. Instead someone else who understands the levers remaining PRESSES THEM to reflect his or her political philosophy (which includes regarding the other side as evil), and we are off.
Other stories about this critical issue are:

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