The bill as a whole, is likely to be found inconsistent with the Constitution
One way of avoiding direct political involvement in content regulation is for licensees of a particular class to collectively develop codes of practice with mandatory public participation, have them approved by an independent commission, and incorporated as license terms. If the code is believed to have been violated, a set procedure can be activated. Serious infractions can be dealt with as license-condition violations. Others can be settled. If the commission is independent, the entire process will be insulated from politics
The Broadcasting Regulatory Commission (BRC) bill has just been opened for consultation. This is good, because it is difficult to find anything good about it other than the openness to consultation. What is wrong with it is not that it contains provisions for license…
