COPPS POINTS TO BIG CHANGES AT FCC BUT SHIES FROM TOTAL MAKEOVER

摘要

The FCC should 搕ake a good hard look?at its mission statement, acting Chairman Michael Copps said at the FCBA summit on the 75th anniversary of the Communications Act and the commission. The FCC has sometimes 搒trayed pretty far?from serving the public interest, he said. 揟oo often we spend our days refereeing disputes between powerful interests, with consumers and other non-traditional stakeholders pretty much left outside the loop of discussion and decision.?Opening lines of communication is the 揻irst real step?toward overhauling the FCC, Copps said. He said he has made strides in that direction, but would still like to see the end of the closed-meeting rule, which prevents more than two commissioners from meeting behind the scenes. 揑f we were allowed to do that, we could manage a lot of traffic through that place, and get a lot of this backlog out of the way.?Copps said he hopes to make better use of the FCC抯 expertise and share it with Congress, the president and the public. nn? How better to inform the public policy dialogue than by having real experts gather the facts, tee up the options and their costs and benefits, and put ideas and papers out -- not something we have to vote on, but analyses and ideas that we share because we care and we want to inform the policy debate.?The FCC 搈ust also cultivate the virtue of predictability,?Copps said. 揘obody ever says FCC and predictability in the same sentence anymore.?To that end, the regulator should do its own research rather than rely on data collected by outside interests, he said. Better grounded proposals will be more sustainable in the courts of law, Congress and public opinion, he added. Copps said he抯 wary of the complete reorganization of the FCC that some have suggested. The commission should go ahead only after weighing the benefits against disruption to the agency抯 policy-making ability, and possible damage to staff morale, he said. Some of the government revamps witnessed by Copps have worked, he said, but 搈any more have been flops.?