Michael Powell out

Michael Powell out

: Michael Powell is resigning as FCC chairman.

I fear that the future will be only worse. As critical as I have been — justifiably — of Powell, I know that in his soul of souls, Powell understands the value of the First Amendment. His successor may not. I fear that the White House and Congress — from, yes, both parties — will only amplify the looney voice of a few who would continue to limit our free speech on our airwaves.

Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s assessment of his tenure.

: I just did a quickie interview on ABC Radio New on Powell.

: Just got email from Jon Bonne at MSNBCi (four chairs to my left):

isn’t it amazing that the Powell news broke on the WSJ ed page? the WSJ ed page folks are certainly intrepid journalists in their own right, but i interpret this as a signal from the Bush corps that breaking news can easily be routed around the newsroom and straight to their fellow ideological counterparts. not quite as much as breaking it on a blog, but this has a very different (though not entirely so) resonance as the Juanita Broaddrick episode.