This morning, word got out that FCC Chairman Michael Powell would be resigning from the commission as early as today. It is curious, as Glenn Fleishman states, why this is happening a day after President Bush was inaugurated for a second term. Fleishman makes some great points about how he may differ in opinion on how some media regulations have been handled, but at the same time believes Powell did some good things for technology.
MSNBC has a live vote running Friday, asking “What was the most important issue during Michael Powell’s tenure as head of the FCC?” At the moment, with 4,256 votes, “Broadcast decency rules” leads with 61% of the voting, with “Concentration of media ownership” in second place at 27%. As much as the decency issue is huge in this country, I would argue that that it’s just the “sexy” topic (sorry for the pun-based nature of that statement), and that media consolidation is a much bigger evil, in the long term. Both have free speech implications, and one does impact the other.
