Kevin Martin’s FCC is getting active on the indecency front, having named conservative Christian activist Penny Nance to the post of special advisor in the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. Her job, according to a Commission spokesperson is to focus “on broadcast- and cable-related consumer and social issues,” with a presumed focus on beefing up the FCC’s efforts to tackle indecency.
Nance is a prominent traditional family values and anti-abortion conservative who recently headed interest group Kids First and was a board of member of Concerned Women in America, which advocates the incorporation of Christian principles into U.S. laws.
According to Mediaweek, Nance was also a lobbyist for Reclaiming America, a group working toward the implementation in law of “the Biblical principles on which our country was founded.” Most bloggers have taken umbrage at the notion that the expert agency responsible for regulating communications has tapped someone with Nance’s view of mixing government with Christianity. Typical of the reaction is this sound-bite from the Center for Creative Voices in Media blog:
Why Ms. Nance at the FCC? Maybe Brent Bozell wasn’t available — or was unwilling to take the pay cut… But it might as well be Brent, as the [Mediaweek] article makes clear. What does this say about the direction new FCC Chair Kevin J. Martin intends to take the Commission on so-called “indecency” issues? This is extremely troubling news for anyone concerned about freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state.
My favorite blog entry on the Nance controversy, however, comes from a blog called Sir Real’s Words of Wisdom. The title of Sir Real’s entry: “FCC Hires New Idiot to Control Our Lives.”
Cynthia Brumfield at 7:12 PM|Comments(0)
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