In what might be a sign of the apocalypse, TMZ on TV has been declared a news broadcast by the FCC. Variety reports:

The Federal Communications Commission has ruled as such in the cases of Fox’s “TMZ” and the Christian Broadcast Network’s “The 700 Club,” declaring Friday that each show meets the test for “a bona fide newscast” and therefore would not trigger political equal-time requirements.

Technically, this decision is only regarding the rule that stations must give equal time to opposing political candidates outside of news broadcasts. In general, this just means that TMZ can gossip about Hillary Clinton’s haircut, and the stations that broadcast it don’t have to worry about giving an extra three minutes to Obama to even things out.

But in the grand scheme, I wonder if this ruling can affect anything else. For one thing, the article also states:

Congress defined “bona fide newscast” as one that holds “genuine news value” and is not intended to boost or aid any particular political candidate.

What interests me about this is that “genuine news value” aside, I think anybody who has been watching mainstream media for the last six months can see that the most news broadcasts are very CLEARLY endorsing and aiding particular political candidates, mostly by tearing down their opponents and avoiding negative stories about their chosen candidate. The depressing thing is, that the show I’ve seen have the most pretense of objectivity is The Colbert Report. He’s given time to just about any candidate who wants to come on the show, and during the Pennsylvania primaries he had Hillary Clinton on the show (on set) and Barack Obama (on a satellite feed). While I have my own opinion about which he favored, he let them both have a their own humorous moment.

I think this election has been one that hopefully will make Americans notice the role the media is playing in politics, and decide what they think about it. I know it’s been on my mind quite a bit.