Licensing Of The Press

Licensing of the press is being proposed in Great Britain, with only one newspaper so far coming out against it. The obvious outcome of something like this would be a press fawning over whatever party was considered most likely to abuse the licensing power. Misbehavior of this party would be studiously ignored while the smallest foible of the other side would be presented as evidence of unpardonable moral decay.

Of course if the Labour party passes this, and the Spectator refuses to participate, the Spectator will be shut down and its staff jailed to the sanctimonious clucking f the remaining press. "If only they could have followed the common sense rules" will run the editorials.

Of course if it works there, expect a similar regulation to be put forth here. This will most likely come as an extension of the powers of the FCC which can be done by executive order rather than getting tied up in the partisan bickering of the congress. Current practice is to simply not invite Fox news to the White House press conferences.

Thought: Some bloggers (not me) are pleased to call themselves journalists in attempts to question politicians. Some politicians, noting that some bloggers are notably unfriendly, have been known to forcibly push the bloggers away to the point of risking assault charges. Wouldn't it be nice if those pests were licensed and thus easily identifiable as friend or foe before the interview could get out of hand?