The Federal Communications Commission planned a “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs” that would monitor newspapers, websites and broadcast stations for the way they select stories and for their political leanings. The plan sparked enough outrage that the FCC backed off. Now various theories abound as to what the FCC may still be up to.

Some speculate this may be an attempt to revive the Fairness Doctrine, which was not about fairness at all. Some see the hand of leftist bagman George Soros, and others find a push for minority ownership of major media outlets. A key advocate of the study, they note, is Obama appointee Mignon Clyburn, an FCC commissioner and the daughter of Rep. James Clyburn. Those views all have merit but another FCC Commissioner went to the heart of the matter.

“The government has no place pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories,” wrote Ajit Pai in the Wall Street Journal. Pai also wondered why the “critical information needs” study included newspapers “when the FCC has no authority to regulate print media.” So what are they up to anyway?

Last week an FCC mouthpiece said “Any suggestion that the FCC intends to regulate the speech of news media or plans to put monitors in America’s newsrooms is false.” With the federal government one should never believe anything until it is officially denied. The FCC is clearly out to infringe on free speech and freedom of the press. The attempt shows that government is being inclusive in the way it abuses Americans.

The NSA has taken away Americans’ right to privacy and the IRS has harassed groups less than worshipful of big government. The EPA regularly violates Americans’ property and economic rights. The ACA, the Affordable Care Act, takes away the health plans Americans want and forces them into inferior plans the government wants them to have. In similar style, the FCC wants the news media to cover the stories government thinks they should cover. The American Counterrevolution is mounting a surge and federal agencies are the shock troops.