The Consumer Federation of America‘s Mark Cooper is arguably one of the smartest guys looking out for the public interest in media law and regulation. He has a very broad and deep understanding of the law and economics and how it applies to the spheres of policy and regulation.
The Columbia Journalism Review interviewed him on his thoughts about the FCC’s cross-ownership decision earlier this week. Perhaps one of the more interesting insights comes at the end of the interview:
You may well get legislation in the Congress now that either tells the FCC it disapproves of its rule, or specific legislation that says “Here’s what the rule should look like.†Congress can take the decision out of the hands of the FCC. In some senses, decisions about media are so vital to democracy that they ought to be made by elected representatives of the people, and not by executive appointees at some agency.
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