FCC Downplays Reports of Imus Investigation
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/11/2007 11:30:00 AM MT
FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin confirms that the FCC has received complaints about Don Imus' racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The FCC has no authority to regulate such language, a point former FCC Chairman Michael Powell made to CBS News, but it looks into all its complaints as a matter of course. Ensslin discounted media reports that said it was conducting an official investigation, which suggests the commission is actively soliciting information from the parties involved rather than routinely assessing the complaints as it would with any others. "We take complaints very seriously and we look into them," said Ensslin.
MSNBC has yanked its siimulcast of the Imus radio show, a move coming not long after Presidential candidate Barack Obama said he thought NBC should not put on hosts that say derrogatory things about women and minorities. CBS Radio has suspended the show for two weeks.
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