From the "You Wouldn't Believe It, But..." file:

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Barton was reacting to a proposal made last week by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who in a speech suggested that broadcasters be subject to a new "public values test" every four years.

"I hope … that you do not mean to suggest that it is the job of the federal government, through the [FCC], to determine the content that is available for Americans to consume,” Barton wrote Monday in a letter to Copps.

Copps had suggested that the test would make a broadcaster's license renewal contingent upon proof that they meet a prospective set of federal criteria.

He said outlets should be mandated to do the following: prove they have made a meaningful commitment to public affairs and news programming, prove they are committed to diversity programming (for instance, by showing that they depict women and minorities), report more to the government about which shows they plan to air, require greater disclosure about who funds political ads and devote 25 percent of their prime-time coverage to local news.
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Source: FCC push to regulate news draws fire

Let's ignore the fact that FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is complete douchebag and that this is a massive overstepping of what the Federal government is permitted to do and that it's a direct violation of the First Amendment and that FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is a complete douchebag. Ignoring all that, how the hell would they even do this? When the network and cable news shows seem less like sources of information and more like bad reality TV shows, when they make The Onion look like quality investigative reporting, when more information can be gotten from The Jon Stewart Show, when most journalists are just well-paid, glorified teleprompter readers (hmmm - sound like anyone else?), how will the government actually license any of the current "journalists" in the future?