more on Copps Blasts Media Review at FCC

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: William Friedman <friedman () law duke edu>
Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 17:30:31 -0400
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Copps Blasts Media Review at FCC

For IP if you wish.

Dave and Gerry, while most of what Gerry said is accurate in the typical
case, I think Copps is talking about something slightly different and
something that should be factored in before characterizing his efforts as
"grandstanding." 

The NPRM that is the subject of the June 2 deadline is 68 pages of
questions.  I do not believe there are any, though perhaps one or two,
"tentative conclusions."  In the typical case that Gerry is talking about,
the NPRM has tentative conclusions and everyone knows what the Commission is
proposing to do.  So the work of the bureau is to develop the chairman's
agenda and to take incoming flak from those that oppose that agenda as
revealed in the tentative conclusions in the published NPRM.  In those cases
its a full court press to attack it or support it.  Here the NPRM is
actually more like an Notice of Inquiry, a bunch of questions.  So when
Copps says no one knows what the Commission is thinking, including his
office, he is commenting on the impact the unusual procedural posture of
this matter has on substance.

As it stands, the final proposed Order that will arrive on the 8th floor
will have conclusions that no one has even seen, much less commented on
before.  That is a due process deficit that cannot be overlooked.  And Copps
is saying if you want to have meaningful debate, lets talk about what the
Commission is proposing to do, like we always do.  Notices of Inquiry don't
typically lead to rules, they lead to tentative conclusions. In fairness to
Commissioner Copps, his critique of the procedural deficits in this matter
and his conclusion that substandard due process often yields substandard
substantive results, should not be dismissed as mere grandstanding.

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