So Michael Powell has announced that he will be stepping down as head of the Federal Communications Commission at the end of March. In case you’re unfamiliar, Powell is the son of Colin Powell, and has been chairman of the FCC for the last four years. Before that, he served as a commissioner for three years, having been appointed by then-President Bill Clinton.
I find Powell (a Republican) to be a perfect case-study in the contradictions within the modern conservative movement. On the one hand, he has never missed an opportunity to push for “deregulation” of the broadcast and communications industries. Among other efforts, he attempted to abolish limits on the number of media outlets that could be owned by a single company (although this move was subsequently overturned by Congress) and he tried to eliminate rules governing the pricing of phone service. The idea, of course, is that an unfettered market will magically provide customers with the lowest prices, best service, and widest range of choices. Unsurprisingly, Powell has received strong support from the media and telecommunications industries.
At the same time, however, Powell has led the FCC in a complete about-face when it comes to enforcing “decency” standards. Until a few years ago, the trend in decency enforcement had been one of increasing leniency, and initially, it seemed that Powell’s FCC would follow this trend. However, beginning more or less with Bono’s utterance of (cover your ears) the word “fuck” on a live broadcast of the Golden Globes, the FCC has taken a much tougher stance against the twin evils of swearing and sex in the broadcast media, culminating in its hounding of Howard Stern and massive fines for CBS following the exposure Janet Jackson’s boob at last year’s Superbowl.
When asked to explain his support of tightening enforcement of decency standards, Powell has said that broadcasters have lowered their standards in a quest for higher ratings. In other words, there is more sex in broadcast media because that is what the market is demanding. But wait—aren’t these the same market forces that Powell has decided should not be constrained where pricing and consolidation are concerned?
Okay, so let me make sure I’ve got this straight. Government regulations preventing a single company from owning every media outlet in town… those are bad. But government regulations protecting me from seeing The Sex on my TV… those are good. The government says that the phone company can’t charge me whatever they want for a basic service. That’s bad. The government says that people can’t use profanity on TV. That’s… wait, I think I know… good? Alright, I think I’ve got it now.