Rockefeller Wants FOX, MSNBC Eliminated

Katy Grimes: This week, United States Senator Jay Rockefeller said that the country would be a better place if the “endless barking” by news networks FOX and MSNBC was stopped – eliminated – shut down. Rockefeller said he wants to see the Federal Communications Commission shut down Fox News and MSNBC.

“There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future,” said Rockefeller.

What next for Rockefeller – eliminate all new media? Conservative blogs? Or just the media critical of him?

Demonstrating that he is not only part of the problem in Washington, Rockefeller has shown just how out of touch he is with the electorate that he finds so pesky. Accountability is a funny thing and something Rockefeller does not appear to support – at least for himself.

To suggest that the United States electorate will be better informed if we eliminate two very different media outlets would make his life easier, only proves that FOX and MSNBC have an impact.

Rockefeller didn’t just stop with his desire to eliminate the news networks. “When it comes to developing content, our entertainment machine is too often in a race to the bottom. Even worse, our news media has all but surrendered to the forces of entertainment. Instead of a watchdog that is a check on the excesses of government and business, we have the endless barking of a 24-hour news cycle. We have journalism that is always ravenous for the next rumor, but insufficiently hungry for the facts that can nourish our democracy. As citizens, we are paying a price.”

It has become a common theme amongst government officials, to complain about the 24-hour news cycle. I hear the complaints at the state Capitol regularly. Rockefeller and others of a like mind are probably just fearful of the push by the electorate to shrink the size of government.

Ironically, the chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Rockefeller didn’t seem to realize that the FCC only regulates broadcast airwaves, not cable television.

I hope that someone runs against Rockefeller in the next election and silences his endless barking. Let the American electorate demonstrate how freedom of speech works, and send him a message… and right back home to unemployment line.

NOV. 19, 2010