The FCC and "Public Convenience, Interest, or Necessity"

Seven years later [1934], a new Federal Communications Commission took over this role [of granting radio station licenses]. Henceforth, licenses were granted for three years at a time to broadcasters who could persuade the FCC that their station would serve 'public convenience, interest, or necessity,' criteria that were never applied to newspapers. As a consequence, free speech on air was severely circumscribed by both regulators and (because of the importance of advertising as a source of revenue) commercial interests. - Niall Ferguson

Different rules were applied to radio stations than to newspapers and regulation DID impede free speech. The radio model was later applied to TV stations as well. The dawn of the Internet reduced this government and sponsor interference with free speech through the growth of blogs, podcasts, and YouTube (and other platforms) videos. Now big tech, in combination with corporate media, and the government is clawing back the defacto censoring capabilities the FCC for so long has wielded over radio and TV stations.

"Public convenience, interest, or necessity" could be interpreted to mean almost anything. And it has been interpreted as such largely depending on the political leanings of the regulators. 

Have Two Important Things Changed in America?

Interesting observation in Niall Ferguson's The Square and the Tower:

"The French social and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville saw the vitality of American associational life, along with the decentralized nature of the federal system, as the keys to the success of the new democracy."

Ignoring for a moment that we're a republic and not a democracy - I'm left wondering if some of the problems we face today are because those two key aspects of American life have changed?

Americans are no longer "joiners" and associations and friends "in real life" seems to becoming a thing of the past. Spending so much time in the Metaverse seems an awful waste to me. "Bowling alone" is increasingly a problem.

So too is the fact that government in the US has become much more centralized than ever before. And more powerful. The government of 1918 wouldn't have had the power to lock down the nation like we recently did. 

Are we losing two of the things that de Tocqueville saw that made us great? I worry we are trending in the wrong direction. I also worry we may not be able to get off the path we're on.

Characteristics of Cities

Interesting observation from Niall Ferguson's The Square and the Tower:

"Cities with at least one printing press in 1500 were significantly more likely to adopt Protestantism than cities without without printing, but the cities with multiple competing printers that were most likely to turn Protestant."

Made me wonder if there are modern indicating characteristics to cities in the US being either Democrat or Republican that would be similar to the printing press making a city Protestant or Catholic back in 1500. My first guess is that unions would be that key indicator but what else could be the key?