The Radio and Television News Directors Association has lambasted an FCC decision to suspend its rules on personal attacks and political editorializing for 60 days so that it can analyze how broadcasters conduct themselves without them.

The RTNDA insisted that the rules should have been discarded altogether. In a statement, RTNDA president Barbara Cochran said, "The time has come ... to deregulate broadcasting and to create greater First Amendment freedom for broadcasters on a par with that of their print and new media colleagues."

Dissenting from the FCC's decision, Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth commented: "The commission's approach of requiring broadcasters to document an increase in their political speech during an election period in order to build a record for regulatory relief raises troubling questions of 'forced speech' under the First Amendment."

Source: Studio Briefing