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FCC Commissioner Wants Probe of Siegelman 60 Minutes Blackout
You remember the awful luck of WHNT, that CBS affiliate in North Alabama; on the night of the broadcast of 60 Minutes' story on Don Siegelman, just during the Siegelman segment, the station's feed went black. After initially blaming CBS for the error, WHNT revised its story and said that it had in fact been a technological problem at the station.
As questions mounted, the station ran the segment again that night (during the Oscars) and then again at 6 o'clock the following day as penance. But for some reason, a number of people seem disinclined to take them at their word. From Reuters:
A U.S. Federal Communications Commission official is seeking an inquiry into the blacking out of a politically charged segment of the CBS News magazine "60 Minutes" by a local television station in Alabama.FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said he had asked the chairman of the FCC to open an inquiry into the Feb. 24 incident at WHNT, a CBS affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama, in which civil rights footage from the 1960s was blacked out.
"The FCC now needs to find out if something analogous is going on here," Copps said at a luncheon with media watchdog groups. "Was this an attempt to suppress information on the public airwaves, or was it really just a technical problem?"
Copps is one of two Democratic appointees on the five-member FCC. The chairman of the agency, Kevin Martin, is a Republican.
Martin responded by saying he would look into the matter but has not indicated yet whether he would issue a letter of inquiry to the station, a source close to the commission said.





Comments (9)
Martin will "look into the matter" and declare it no big deal. This will go nowhere, as all investigations into Rove's shenanigans do.
March 4, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, yeah - that's gonna happen!
More likely, CBS will come under scrutiny for blaspheming Saint Karl Rove.
March 4, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just another Rovian distraction to help delay the real investigation that is needed as to how and why Siegelman was convicted in the first instance.
March 4, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will NEVER investigate this thing in any way that could ever be described as meaningful or effective. He's a GOP shill, and he's eagerly anticipating the lucrative job offers he's going to be getting lobbying for GOP interests.
March 4, 2008 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
How soon until Michael Copps is swift-boated? How long until he is investigated for criminal activity?
How long until he or a member of his family suffers great financial calamity? physical injury?
How long until the most heinous secret act, thought, or statement that Mr. Copps becomes public knowledge?
There will be no investigation.
Go back to watching the Hillary and Obama show...
March 4, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's just say I am not going to hold my breath.
And Siegleman continues to rot in prison.
Welcome to the USSA. Who's next? You? Me?
March 4, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've written to Michael Copps directly before, thanking him for fighting media consolidation. And he wrote back!
Here's the email address he used:
Mike.Copps@fcc.gov
And here's what an asset--perhaps the only one--he is to us in the FCC. He wrote:
Perhaps if he gets enough emails supporting an investigation into the Siegelman blackout, he can use them as leverage to force an investigation.
I'm going to try.
March 4, 2008 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
FWIW- Scott Horton, who has been bulldogging the Siegelman case, has essentially concluded that the blackout was indeed technical in nature, here:
http://tinyurl.com/3awouk
Ken
March 4, 2008 7:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Almost every comment so far believes this investigation will go nowhere. To me this is a nobrainer. Just interview the minions that were in the studio that night and voila, one of them will squeal or report an irregularity. Of course this has to be under the threat of a charge of obstructing justice and or perjury.
March 4, 2008 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink