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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Former FCC Leader Asks FCC for Forum About ‘R’ Word

A group of former Federal Communications Commission officials sent a letter to the agency urging it to convene about the word Redskins.

According to indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com, a group of 26 activists, leaders, and former commissioners signed the letter asking the FCC commissioner host the forum to decide if broadcasters should voluntarily regulate the on-air use of the team’s name.

“If you can’t look at somebody and use a certain name because it is an insult, then that is the moment of awareness that it is time for the name to be changed,” said Reed Hundt, a former FCC commissioner, to the Washington Post.

The letter calls for broadcasters to voluntarily stop using the offensive name, and told Commissioner Mignon Clyburn the FCC has “unquestioned authority” to host the forum.

The letter cites journalists who have condemned the name, like Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Wise of The Washington Post, and President Obama, who said that if he were Dan Snyder, the owner of the team, he would “think seriously” about changing it.

Hundt, a commissioner during the Clinton Administration, said that the group was specifically calling on broadcasters, not print or digital medium reporters, to participate in the forum because the commission primarily regulates radio and television.

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