Localism: A Threat to Radio?

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5318&Itemid=48

Though this article is from the perspective of a biased organization looking after it's own constituencies, it brings up an interesting point about the idea of localism, a regulation by the FCC similar to the Fairness Doctrine. Localism means that, in this case, a radio station must provide some sort of service to its community and that service must be in the best interest of said community.

This is an extremely important issue because of the impact it has on the freedom a certain radio station, and by extension television station, has to broadcast what they want. Whereas the Fairness Doctrine mostly relates to political campaigning and commentary, localism regulations essentially act as a means for the government, by way of the FCC, to determine what kind of programming is "in the best interest of the community." While the idea in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad one, as it has existed for many years and has benefits as mentioned on Page 32 of our book, it may still be possible for government to abuse this kind of regulation.

The article brings up the idea that Catholic radio stations may, under the encouragement of the Obama Administration, be issued fines or have their licenses revoked if the government determines that the radio stations aren't catering to the needs of minority groups in their community for instance. But then, who's to say that a local sports station or talk radio station wouldn't also be under review by the government if they don't meet their standards of the FCC for providing "services" to the community?

Entertainment stations can be in just as much danger as say, religious ones because it brings into question what actual services they are providing to their community. The services these stations provide as well as the extent of what these services are really are based around the opinions of those in government and not necessarily those of the community itself. There's no telling what standards the government is going off of or if they are reflective of the community at large or just the current political party. Regulations such as these require much greater definition and not vague wording which could lead to trouble for the future of radio.