“bona fide”<\/em> news providers. In arriving at that ruling, the Commissioners had to conclude that there would be no overt political partisanship in the news content from these parties.<\/p>\nThe significance of this ruling is that the broadcast licensees of these programs will not have to comply with political equal-time requirements. In the case of TMZ<\/em>, the licensees are the stations in the Fox Television Station group owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The 700 Club<\/em>, of course, is openly partisan and is controlled and hosted by a former Republican candidate for president. So obviously the FCC found that there was no risk of political favoritism from these notorious right-wing entities.<\/p>\nPerhaps the most embarrassing revelation in this story is that the FCC justified the ruling by citing Entertainment Tonight<\/em> as a precedent. Apparently the standard for newscaster bona fides is that they cover:<\/p>\n“…some area of current events, in a manner similar to more traditional newscasts.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nMore traditional newscasts like Entertainment Tonight?<\/em> This is the modern media measure for newsworthiness. And this why the legacy news networks have all taken to emulating ET. It is why Lindsay Lohan leads the evening news broadcast even when soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq. It is why Rev. Wright dominates the news cycle even when the economy falters and thousands of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure.<\/p>\nIt may seem ludicrous that the FCC would grant newscaster status to TMZ<\/em> and the 700 Club<\/em>, but the real joke is that, by contemporary standards, they deserve it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Television news has taken criticism from every direction imaginable. It is accused of being too far left, or too far right, or too shallow, or too consumed with profit, etc. Now the Federal Communications Commission has settled the argument. Television news is too newsy. The FCC’s latest satire-defying ruling has declared that the gossip-mongers at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[284,1138,33,160,30,283],"class_list":["post-904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-700-club","tag-fcc","tag-fox-news","tag-pat-robertson","tag-rupert-murdoch","tag-tmz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-eA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":461,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=461","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":0},"title":"FCC Chief Fucks Up","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/5\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin Martin, had some choice words in response to a court ruling yesterday. The case before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York concerned whether the FCC can regulate and penalize broadcasters for spontaneous profanities aired during live television programs. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Free Press"","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":380,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=380","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":1},"title":"Paparazzi Pursuing Peccant Politicians","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/16\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From the folks who brought you Michael Richards ranting, Britney Spears flashing, and Princess Di crashing fatally in a Paris tunnel, get ready to dish the Washington dirt. TMZ.com is opening a branch in DC. I can hardly wait. No longer will the elite politicos be able to hide behind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1255,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1255","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":2},"title":"Justice Scalia Knows Foul-Mouthed Glitteratae","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/28\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Supreme Court ruled today on a case pitting Fox Entertainment against the FCC and involving the use of naughty language on TV. The crux of the debate centered on \"fleeting expletives\" like when Bono of U2 appeared at an awards ceremony and used the phrase \"fucking brilliant\" in his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCC"","block_context":{"text":"FCC","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=90"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51986,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=51986","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":3},"title":"Fox News Spews Anti-Vax Lies, Falsely Implying a Comedian Collapsed on Stage Due to COVID Vaccine","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/7\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past two years Fox News has been at the forefront of the pro-COVID movement in America. They have supported Donald Trump's deadly negligence and deliberate downplaying of the health crisis. They have opposed public policies advocating masks and vaccines that would mitigate the harm. And as a result,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News, Vaccine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-vaccine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-vaccine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-vaccine.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":68705,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=68705","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":4},"title":"Trump’s FCC Threatens to Change ‘Equal Time’ Rules to Suppress the Free Speech of Trump Critics","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/22\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"In Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to nullify the First Amendment of the Constitution, and specifically it's provisions to protect freedom of the press, he is becoming ever more flagrant and dangerous in his repressive scheming. And he is exhibiting his infamous weakness and fear of the tenets of democracy that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Censorship"","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=56"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump and Media - ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money-baby.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money-baby.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11438,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11438","url_meta":{"origin":904,"position":5},"title":"Koch Brothers Take Their Campaign To Kill Net Neutrality To Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/5\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month the corporate-friendly majority on the Supreme Court struck down FCC rules that required Internet service providers (ISP) to treat all content equally. Known as \"Network Neutrality,\" these rules prevent companies like AT&T from providing fast service for Internet sites it favors, while impeding content from those it does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox Nation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnation-fcc-regulate-internet.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Junk](\"\/Pix\/Humor\/junk-news.jpg\")
Television news has taken criticism from every direction imaginable. It is accused of being too far left, or too far right, or too shallow, or too consumed with profit, etc.<\/p>\n