Ajit Pai, an F.C.C. (Federal Communications Commission) commissioner dropped a media bomb in The Wall Street Journal. Pai revealed the F.C.C.’s plans to conduct an intrusive study of broadcast newsrooms throughout the country, primarily by interviewing owners, editors, and reporters about their story choices. The stated purpose is to find out whether or not the stations and newspapers serve their communities with what the F.C.C. defines as “critical information.”

Stations and newspapers should sue the F.C.C. on First Amendment (freedom of the press) grounds. Free societies do not bend  in the face of government’s chilling winds. The F.C.C. has no business in our newsrooms and should have no role in defining or determining editorial choices.