FCC Probing Complaint About Embedded Analysts

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell Called for Investigation After The New York Times Broke Story

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/8/2008 5:10:00 PM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that the commission was looking into complaints about the Department of Defense's program to provide administration talking points to former military officers used by TV networks as analysts on the Iraq war.

House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and others called for an investigation after The New York Times broke the story about the embedded analysts.

"We just got the letter from chairman Dingell and others who have raised concern about it," he told reporters Thursday. While he said he had no comment on the complaint, he added, "We are looking into it and we will have a response soon.”

Dingell wants to know whether the news outlets that used the analysts violated the FCC's sponsorship-identification rules by not informing viewers of the analysts’ ties to the White House or various companies that do business with the Defense Department.