{"id":2913,"date":"2014-02-23T08:27:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T13:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2913"},"modified":"2014-02-23T08:38:22","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T13:38:22","slug":"revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2913","title":{"rendered":"revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GTY_ukraine_protests_sk_131204_16x9_992\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With my jaw dropped and eyes glued, this past week I\u2019ve watched as the people have taken to the streets in the Ukraine and Venezuela.\u00a0 Especially escalating in Kiev, there is an obvious passion within the people; their angst is directed at their government.\u00a0 I wonder what could stir the citizens so much to be that frustrated, that defiant, and that willing to boldly confront the established civic order.\u00a0 What\u2019s stirring within the people?\u00a0 What\u2019s stirring that they\u2019re so angry with their government \u2014 angry at those who are supposed to have the citizens\u2019 best interests in mind?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than a singular issue or particular passion.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than one desire or demand.\u00a0 Synonymous with such large scale revolts is the belief that government no longer has the citizens\u2019 collective best interests in mind.<\/p>\n

I wonder… could that happen here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even with the enactment of the most controversial, American policies \u2014 ie. Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, or whatever is one’s current, most convenient terminology \u2014 like it or not, my sense is that the law was crafted by those who believe it has the citizens\u2019 best interests in mind.\u00a0 Whether the law actually does care well for our citizens is another question; however, because of the perceived purpose, a revolution due to the law\u2019s enactment seems a less legitimate reason to rise up against those who enacted the law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interestingly, no less, last week there was a circumstance that caused this current events observer to deliberately pause, questioning whose interest our government had in mind… questioning whether their focus was best for you and me…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) \u2014 the agency of the federal government which regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, etc. \u2014 was moving ahead with its taxpayer funded \u201cCritical Information Needs\u201d study (CIN).\u00a0 First revealed last October, according to the FCC, its purpose was to uncover information from television and radio broadcasters about “the process by which stories are selected” and how often stations cover “critical information needs,” along with “perceived station bias” and “perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.”\u00a0 The study would have sent FCC regulators into newsrooms across the country, asking questions such as the following:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(To media owners)<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cWhat is the news philosophy of the station?\u201d<\/p>\n

(To editors, producers and managers)<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cDo you have any reporters or editors assigned to topic \u2018beats\u2019? If so how many and what are the beats?\u00a0 Who decides which stories are covered?\u201d<\/p>\n

(To reporters)<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cHave you ever suggested coverage of what you consider a story with critical information for your customers that was rejected by management?\u201d (Follow-up questions ask the reporter to speculate on why a particular story was cut.)<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Upon confrontation of the growing controversy \u2014 and asked why tabulating speculative, perceived bias was necessary for our federal government for regulatory purposes \u2014 FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler agreed that survey questions \u201coverstepped the bounds of what is required.”\u00a0 The extent of the questions raised serious First Amendment concerns.\u00a0 Why was the government looking into this?\u00a0 Why were they spending taxpayer dollars?\u00a0 And what would they do with the information?\u00a0 Better yet:\u00a0 whose best interests did they have in mind?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a current FCC commissioner shared a concerned op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal last week \u2014 an editorial in which he labeled the CIN study as a first step down a \u201cdangerous path\u201d \u2014 the FCC suspended the onset of the study, scheduled for spring.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Good thing.\u00a0 I was beginning to wonder about revolt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Respectfully,<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With my jaw dropped and eyes glued, this past week I\u2019ve watched as the people have taken to the streets in the Ukraine and Venezuela.\u00a0 Especially escalating in Kiev, there is an obvious passion within the people; their angst is directed at their government.\u00a0 I wonder what could stir the citizens so much to be … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “revolution”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[390,391],"class_list":["post-2913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","tag-fcc-cin","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2913"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2916,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions\/2916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}