Ad censorship & a broken FCC

Glenn Greenwald has a good article about a case of ad censorship.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html?source=newsletter

In this case, Comcast is refusing to air an advertisement for a company criticizing Rep. Carney for supporting telecom immunity. Comcast is a big contributor to Rep. Carney, and could potentially be a target for telecoms who broke the law.

But it astounds me that the corporations that run our public airwaves have such power for censorship. It reminds me of the pro-gay UCC ads ("God is still speaking") that NBC refused to air.

Sadly, our FCC is doing nothing. These entities, in order to have a license, are supposed to be operating for the public trust. In 2007, the FCC dismissed the UCC's complaint, citing that local stations should not be held liable for national network policies. This despite the fact that in the past, the FCC has ruled that it is the local stations which own licenses, not that the national networks (and thus ruled in the opposite direction when complaints were filed against national entities).