Government Overregulation of Broadcast Content Could Backfire

Written by Terry Mitchell


Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate broadcast television content is indeed frightening. Limbaugh made his comments during one of his regular radio broadcasts last year. Those remarks were in response torepparttar FCC's crackdown on broadcast indecency and Congress' threats to hand out much larger fines to broadcasters for such violations, inrepparttar 113464 wake of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" atrepparttar 113465 Super Bowl halftime show last February. Limbaugh isrepparttar 113466 not only media personality alarmed by this intensified government scrutiny of television content. Atrepparttar 113467 beginning of his news program on CNN during that same time frame, Aaron Brown said he thoughtrepparttar 113468 only thing worse than Jackson's Super Bowl debacle isrepparttar 113469 fact thatrepparttar 113470 government is now getting involved in trying to prevent similar incidents inrepparttar 113471 future. Amen, Aaron! Television, like any other business in a capitalistic society like ours, is and should be governed byrepparttar 113472 marketplace andrepparttar 113473 laws of supply and demand. I would love to see more family-friendly television programming. However, if there were truly a great demand for it, there would naturally be a lot more of it in existence (as well as a lot less ofrepparttar 113474 offensive stuff). The folks who are pushingrepparttar 113475 hardest for greater government intervention to make TV more family-friendly will assert that they are inrepparttar 113476 majority of viewers and listeners inrepparttar 113477 U.S. However,repparttar 113478 facts belie this assertion. Ofrepparttar 113479 seven broadcast networks, PAX, widely recognized asrepparttar 113480 most family-friendly, is last inrepparttar 113481 ratings. It's not just last, it is dead last! PAX gets about one-fourth ofrepparttar 113482 audience ofrepparttar 113483 sixth place network! Even in places that don't have a local PAX affiliate, it is usually available as a cable channel. However, it's not even amongrepparttar 113484 30 top-rated cable channels. Onrepparttar 113485 other hand, some ofrepparttar 113486 TV shows and cable networks withrepparttar 113487 most controversial material getrepparttar 113488 highest ratings. Go figure. In reality, those who are clamoringrepparttar 113489 loudest for TV to "clean up its act" know they are inrepparttar 113490 minority. Instead of tuning their TVs to PAX or one ofrepparttar 113491 other tamer channels (as I do) or even turning their TVs completely off, they go running torepparttar 113492 government to force their tastes on everyone else. Oddly enough, most of these people consider themselves conservatives. Funny, I thought conservatives disdained government intervention in favor of allowingrepparttar 113493 marketplace to take its course. Where did I ever get such a silly idea? What these people seemingly don't realize is that their efforts could very well backfire on them and allrepparttar 113494 rest of us. Broadcasters have generally submitted torepparttar 113495 concepts ofrepparttar 113496 V-chip and content ratings to help parents regulate their children’s TV viewing in their homes. After all, isn't that what all of this hoopla is about? They have also meekly accepted reasonable fines from time to time for indecent broadcasts. However,repparttar 113497 vocal minority is now demanding thatrepparttar 113498 FCC and Congress play hardball, i.e., impose very large and numerous fines as well as revokingrepparttar 113499 licenses of stations found guilty of indecent broadcasts. In response to this demand, there are now bills circulating in both houses of Congress that would increase fines torepparttar 113500 range of $250,000 to $3 million per violation along with threatening license revocation for habitual offenders.

Back In Time

Written by Ken Slater


Let's go back in time...it's 1967 andrepparttar headlines back then read:

US Airforce intensifiesrepparttar 113463 bombing of North Vietnam . . . U.S. plans to start missile net... 1967 Pan Am Games... 13 US helicopters are shot down in Vietnam... Writer and historian Bernard B. Fall is killed by a Viet Cong... Military Coup in Greece... Six Day War... Egyptians blockaderepparttar 113464 Straits of Tiran... Israeli Air Force launched a pre-emptive strike... Large Scale War Protest Begins... Johnson meets Kosygin...

WOW, 1967 was a year for protests and military actions! Does any of this sound familiar? If you were to adrepparttar 113465 word "Iraq" in with any of these headlines, it would be something you might hear today.

Let's try another one: U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote (NYT 9/4/1967) If we replaced Vietnam with Iraq it would read: U.S. Encouraged by Iraq Vote, (CNN 1/30/2005) Funny how history repeats itself. The point I'm trying to get is our Iraq war is another Vietnam. We are viewing itrepparttar 113466 same way and our government hopes and desires arerepparttar 113467 same. Many headlines from 1967 can be "reused" as headlines today. Below isrepparttar 113468 entire headline and story from Sept. 4th, 1967...

Don't forget to addrepparttar 113469 word Iraq inrepparttar 113470 place of Vietnam then you decide-Ken

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote : Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special torepparttar 113471 New York Times (9/4/1967)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today atrepparttar 113472 size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disruptrepparttar 113473 voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent ofrepparttar 113474 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened byrepparttar 113475 Vietcong.

The size ofrepparttar 113476 popular vote andrepparttar 113477 inability ofrepparttar 113478 Vietcong to destroyrepparttar 113479 election machinery wererepparttar 113480 two salient facts in a preliminary assessment ofrepparttar 113481 nation election based onrepparttar 113482 incomplete returns reaching here.

Pending more detailed reports, neitherrepparttar 113483 State Department norrepparttar 113484 White House would comment onrepparttar 113485 balloting orrepparttar 113486 victory ofrepparttar 113487 military candidates, Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu, who was running for president, and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky,repparttar 113488 candidate for vice president. A successful election has long been seen asrepparttar 113489 keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouragingrepparttar 113490 growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election wasrepparttar 113491 culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu,repparttar 113492 chief of state, in Honolulu in February.

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