Obama chief argues media must not have final say in selection of commercials
JERUSALEM – The U.S. government should have the right to force broadcast media companies to air commercials that foster a "diversity" of views, argued President Obama's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein.
"If it were necessary to bring about diversity and attention to public matters, a private right of access to the media might even be constitutionally compelled. The notion that access will be a product of the marketplace might well be constitutionally troublesome," wrote Sunstein in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution."
In the book – obtained and reviewed by WND – Sunstein cites hypothetical examples of private groups or individuals attempting to buy advertising time in the broadcast media to promote a certain view only to have their ads rejected by a private media company.
"It is fully plausible that the refusal (of the media company), backed up by the law, violates the First Amendment, at least if other outlets are unavailable or far less effective," Sunstein posits in a radical interpretation of the Constitution.