MORE ON OBAMA FAIRNESS DOCTRINE CZAR

Last week, CNSNews reported on the likely direction the FCC's new "Chief Diversity Officer" (Translation: Fairness Doctrine Czar) would attempt to take talk radio. Based on a book penned by Mark Lloyd (pictured), if his preference is granted, private broadcasters would be required to double their operating expense in order to fund public broadcasters.

NEWSBUSTERS is reporting that this over-the-top and beyond-the-pale tactic being espoused by someone with a lot of power in the FCC has gotten the attention of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who has issued a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who appointed Lloyd to this post.

NewsBusters insists there is significant reason for alarm when it comes to Lloyd's views:

We have repeatedly explained that Lloyd is virulently anti-conservative, anti-capitalist, almost myopically racially fixated and exuberantly pro-regulation.

While I'm glad to see that Grassley has gotten involved, we've also seen him write letters before that yield no fruit (Gerald Walpin case comes to mind).

Nonetheless, shining a light on what's going on at the FCC is critically important in light of what its Fairness Doctrine Czar envisions. Here is an excerpt from Grassley's letter:

Dear Chairman Genachowski,

On July 29, 2009, you announced the appointment of Mark Lloyd as Associate General Counsel and Chief Diversity Officer for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). I write today to express my concerns with this appointment and ask for you to clarify and reaffirm statements you made to me in a personal meeting prior to your confirmation related to the Fairness Doctrine and efforts to diversify broadcast media.

On April 22, 2009, before your confirmation by the U.S. Senate for your position as Chairman of the FCC, you came to my office and told me that you did not support an effort to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. I took you at your word that, if confirmed, the policies that you promoted at the FCC would not include any policy or regulatory shifts that seek to reintroduce the long abandoned Fairness Doctrine. However, I have serious reservations that...

Go to NEWSBUSTERS to read the entire letter.

If Lloyd's plan is enacted, it would amount to government theft of 1st Amendment rights as private broadcasters cannot afford to have their operating expenses doubled when they're struggling to breakeven as it is.

Nothing short of downright nefarious if this plan is put in place.