FCC Proposes Putting Monitors in Newrooms Across United States. POSSIBLY UNRELATED STORY- USA Plunges to 46th in Press Freedom in Reporters Without Borders Index

Under the auspices a pilot program called 'Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs', the Federal Communications Comission announced a pilot program to insert federal monitors into newsrooms throughout the country.

The stated purpose of this program is to help the agency better understand how reporters and editors select news stories for publication. The Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs is supposedly voluntary. However, an FCC commissioner warned in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that the survey would be detrimental to press freedoms and ultimately lead to the government dictating to news outlets which stories get coverage and which ones will never see the light of day.

The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about "the process by which stories are selected" and how often stations cover "critical information needs," along with "perceived station bias" and "perceived responsiveness to underserved populations."

How does the FCC plan to dig up all that information? First, the agency selected eight categories of "critical information" such as the "environment" and "economic opportunities," that it believes local newscasters should cover. It plans to ask station managers, news directors, journalists, television anchors and on-air reporters to tell the government about their "news philosophy" and how the station ensures that the community gets critical information.

This is not the first time the agency has meddled in news coverage. Before Critical Information Needs, there was the FCC's now-defunct Fairness Doctrine, which began in 1949 and required equal time for contrasting viewpoints on controversial issues. Though the Fairness Doctrine ostensibly aimed to increase the diversity of thought on the airwaves, many stations simply chose to ignore controversial topics altogether, rather than air unwanted content that might cause listeners to change the channel.

The Fairness Doctrine was controversial and led to lawsuits throughout the 1960s and '70s that argued it infringed upon the freedom of the press. The FCC finally stopped enforcing the policy in 1987, acknowledging that it did not serve the public interest. In 2011 the agency officially took it off the books. But the demise of the Fairness Doctrine has not deterred proponents of newsroom policing, and the CIN study is a first step down the same dangerous path.

The 'survey' was reportedly the brainchild of FCC official Mignon Clyburn- daughter of Democrat congressman and Fairness Doctrine supporter Jim Clyburn. In the wake of the 2011 Tuscon shooting that killed six and injured 14- including then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords- Clyburn blamed conservative talk radio on Jared Loughner's murder spree and called for the reintroduction of the Fairness Doctorine [even though Loughner was determined to be an irate loner who was fixated on Giffords before the advent of the Tea Party- NANESB!].

Since FOX News and conservative talk radio are one of the few media outlets host pundits and media personalities openly critical of President Obama's policies, the proposed FCC guidelines seem designed more for stifling their editorial process as opposed to MSNBC, which is a de-facto TV network for the ruling Democrat party

The news comes around the same time the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders released an index that listed the United States as 46th- between Romania and Haiti- for press freedom. Previously, the Reporters Without Borders survey had listed the United States as 13th overall in press freedom.

However, in May 2013 it was learned that the Department of Justice had seized phone records from the AP in addition to wiretapping Fox News reporter James Rosen and seizing his parent's phone records.

UPDATE- Heading into the weekend, reports were circulating that the FCC was revising or backing away altogether from their proposed Critical Information Needs survey.

Wyclef Jean Left off of Ballot for Upcoming Haitian Elections; Plans to Appeal

Given how Wyclef Jean has run Yele Haiti, it's probably best that he was left off of the ballot. I suspect that governing a state- even a failed state- requires far more effort than a few months of gimmickry and publicity stunts while campaigning.

Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean has said he will appeal against a ruling that he cannot run in Haiti's presidential election.

Haiti's electoral commission said that Mr Jean was ineligible to stand as the Haitian constitution requires candidates to have lived in the country for five years prior to an election.

The 40-year-old singer lives in the US.

But he argues that his role as a roving ambassador for Haiti since 2007 exempts him from the residency requirement

The comission made its ruling on Friday, and a statement issued saying that while he disagreed with their opinion, he would accept their ruling. However, Wyclef Jean tweeted over the weekend that his legal team would appeal the electoral comission's ruling.

Haiti's presidential elections were scheduled for February 28, 2010. However, after the devestating Magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on January 12th, it was decided to move the polling date back to at least November 28. As many as 230,000 were feared killed in the quake.

Candidates will also be running for ten senate seats and 98 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

HAITI UPDATE: Aftershocks Rattle Port Au Prince; USNS Comfort Arrives; Chunky Venezuelan Conspiracy Theorist Rambles on; Cruise Ships Not Welcome?

(File photo; US Navy)

The US Navy Mercy class Hospital ship USNS Comfort arrived near Port Au Prince last Wednesday and took on it's first patients. The first two were flown in by helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and included a 6 year old boy and a 20 year old man. The 894-foot vessel can accommodate 1000 hospital beds and has a compliment of over 900 medical personnel.

ELSEWHERE: Aftershocks as strong as 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted Port Au Prince on Wednesday, sending survivors out into the street fearing a repeat of the devastating quake that struck 8 days prior. Reuters is reporting that looting and sporadic violence has subsided with the arrival of American Marines and soldiers to provide security and oversee distribution of aid. Both the Haitian government and United Nations peacekeepers suffered casualties in the initial earthquake.

*Actor George Clooney and singer Wyclef Jean organized a live telethon simulcast from Los Angeles, New York and Haiti that managed to raise $57 million in relief efforts towards Haiti.

*French and Greek rescuers pulled out a man from the ruins of a collapsed grocery store in Port Au Prince some 11 days after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake levelled the Haitian capital. Rescuers discovered 24 year old Wismond Exantus under the rubble the same day the Haitian government ordered search and rescue teams to call off their search.

*Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines [NYSE: RCL] has come under fire for their decision to dock at a resort in northern Haiti shortly after the quake. The company defended the docking of Navigator of the Seas at Labadee, which was largely unaffected by the quake, saying that the company employs hundreds of Hatians and the devestated island nation's economy could use the infusion of capital that tourism provides. The company also said it was forwarding rice, fresh water and beans to the disaster stricken island nation. Two other vessels from the Royal Caribbean Lines, including the worlds largest ocean liner- Oasis of the Seas, are scheduled to dock in Labadee later on this month.

And finally, might I suggest tHugo Chavez help himself to a nice big, steaming cup of shut the fuck up? Particularly when Los Angeles County is sending more aid to Haiti then the oil-rich tropical paradise that he seems intent on pile-driving into the ground called Venezuela. This time, the Venezuelan dictator is claiming the devastation wrought in Haiti was a byproduct of a sooper-seekrit 'tectonic weapon' deployed by the US Navy and that it was used on the island nation of Haiti so we could help ourselves to the country's vast oil reserves? Wait....scratch that. It was clearly so the gringo yanqui imperialists could help themselves to Haiti's nearly limitless mineral wealth, with all those gold, platinum, copper and palladium mines- wait, that's not it either. I got it! It's all those skilled baseball players.....oh no- that's the other half of the island.

This kind of begs the question.....if the US military had such a weapon at their disposal, why not use it against Caracas, since....by using their logic, they already know too much and have all those precious energy and mineral deposits that a rapacious imperialistic war machine just can't get enough of. If such technology exists, I beseech the United States Military to deploy it only when Danny Glover and tHugo Chavez are meeting together.

And yes, I'm well aware of what Pat Robertson said shortly after the quake...and frankly, I thought the comments themselves were sanctimonious, self-righteous crap, but would also serve as a convenient and intellectually lazy way for people who disdain religon in general to harp on Christians as being intolerant and self-righteous. Patricularly disengenuous when you consider how many Christian charities and aid groups were active in Haiti before the earthquake. I mean...seriously- what kind of piece of crap would go out of their way to defend Danny Glover's statements?

HAITI UPDATE: tHugo Chavez Claims US 'Occupying' Haiti; Wyclef Jean's Charity Questioned; US GI Finds Kin in Haiti; CNN Doc Pressed Into Service

(Haiti's Presidential Palace before the earthquake- Garrett Crawford)

(and immediately after the earthquake- hotindienews)

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez took time from his busy schedule of nationalizing private retailers and rationing electricity to second-guess the American Aid efforts in Haiti.

"I read that 3,000 soldiers are arriving, Marines armed as if they were going to war. There is not a shortage of guns there, my God. Doctors, medicine, fuel, field hospitals, that's what the United States should send," Chavez said on his weekly television show. "They are occupying Haiti undercover."

Chavez said he did not wish to diminish the humanitarian effort made by the United States and was only questioning the need for so many troops.

Nooo....of course not. Seems kind of silly that the soldiers and Marines we're sending to Haiti should be armed. I mean it's not like there's no functioning government, the UN Peacekeepers assigned to the capital were killed in the earthquake or rampant gangs of machete-wielding looters might attack aid groups distributing supplies or anything.

French Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet was also critical of the American Military presence in the devestated capital of Port Au Prince. 'This is about helping Haiti, not occupying Haiti' Joyandet said from the comfort of Brussels.

Speaking of imperialist American soldiers occupying Port-Au-Prince, I came across this story earlier of a Hatian immigrant who's now a staff sargeant with the 82nd Airborne Division now deployed to Haiti.


Quake survivors implore the soldiers in halting English for more food and water and for medical help. Florestal responds in Creole — and surprised Haitians waiting in lines slap him on the back and shake his hand.“They feel good that there are Haitians in the U.S. Army,” he said.
Amazingly, he found one of his cousins, who told him most of his family survived. Later, he called his mother, who had been crying and still unable to reach any relatives in Haiti from her Orlando, Florida, home. She was overjoyed to hear that her sister and brother were alive, he said.

ELSEWHERE: CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was the only doctor remaining at a field hospital set up in Port-au-Prince after Belgian doctors and staff had evacuated over security concerns. Some 25 patients were left in the doctors care as the Belgian medical personnel departed and took their supplies with them. [Full disclosure, I'm no fan of CNN, but way to go Dr Gupta!- NANESB!]

The Smoking Gun, Associated Press, Better Business Bureau and others have brought into question the spending practices of Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti charity over the last few days. Art Taylor of the BBB's Wise Giving Alliance said that IRS tax returns for the Yele Haiti Foundation between 2005 and 2007 were filed on one day- August 10, 2009- which can be considered a red flag. Also, in 2007, the foundation's spending of $411,000 exceeded its revenues of $79,000. It's revenue in 2008 was en estimated $1.9 million. Jean had been imploring the public to raise funds for Yele Haiti this week by texting 'Yele' to 501501 to donate $5 for earthquake relief. Estimates are that he managed to raise nearly $2 million via text, however the foundation cannot collect until the phone bills come due for each respective donor. Foundation president Cliff Locke said that the organization is seeking bridge funding for between the time the funds were pledged via text message and when the donors pay their bills.

UPDATE: For whatever reason, Goodsearch has Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti featured under their 'Who's Doing Good?' section on the main page. Maybe this has been cleared up to a degree, or the organization will perform beyond expectations with the increased scrutiny. Or maybe Goodsearch is still unaware of the accusations leveled against Yele Haiti.

The Haiti Earthquake and Surprisingly Simple Things you Can Do To Help

I planned on putting in a plug for goodsearch in at some point, but the situation in Haiti has made it rather timely.

If you head on over to the Goodsearch homepage, you'll see a grey bar towards the bottom of the page marked 'Who do you goodsearch for?'. You can type in a phrase in the bottom search area and it will come up with a list of charities, shelters, museums, aid groups, schools and charities with that phrase that will show up in a drop bar.

For a timely example, if you type in the phrase 'Haiti' into the 'Who do you goodsearch for?' function, more than 50 organizations that were active in Haiti before the earthquake- including Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti- will show up on the drop bar. Simply select an organization- let's say Haiti Lumiere from the drop bar and begin searching via goodsearch. Goodsearch will then donate $.01 per search you use through them. Now, sometimes this blogger is intentionally vague in his search terms, which means that goodsearch will automatically suggest other, more specific phrases to search with.....which means you bump up the total raised while searching.

Also, people enrolled in American Airlines AAdvantage programs can earn bonus frequent-flyer miles when donating to the Red Cross' Haiti relief through a link on the airline's website.

Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Levels Capital of Country That Wasn't In Great Shape To Begin With

Port-au-Prince, Haiti was rocked by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that was followed by magnitude 5.9 and 5.5 aftershocks yesterday afternoon. Casualties are feared to be in the thousands, according to most relief agencies in the impoverished nation.

Already the FBI is warning about opportunistic scams masquerading as charities to play on the public's concern over the scope of the disaster.

Concerned readers can find out more about donating through relief organizations like the Red Cross or Catholic Relief Services.