Post by bossradio93 on Apr 28, 2004 12:32:37 GMT -5
Viewers, listeners should fight for First Amendment
Commentary by Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper, 4.26
Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone and Viacom president Mel Karmazin recently embarked on a new venture. They've now become First Amendment champions. Rolling Stone magazine, who's also decided to join their crusade, extensively quoted both these men in an anti-FCC editorial featured in their April 29 edition.
"I don't know about you guys, but to me, a woman's breast is not such a big deal," Redstone told an investors' conference. Karmazin took a shot at Clear Channel, saying that "another company canceled Howard (Stern)'s show for no reason other than that they were going to Washington (to) testify and just didn't seem to have the courage to stand up for programming that they aired."
Rolling Stone went on to cite Redstone and Karmazin for their courage and call on not only the rest of the broadcasting industry but also those controlling the recording industry to assert themselves.
"We need figures of courage and strength to fight back in the war on culture," the writers concluded.
Unfortunately, here's an example of the wrong people being recruited to fight the right battle. Someone needs to speak out against the paranoia fueling this "indecency" movement, but it has to come from media consumers.
Despite being in complete personal disagreement with the spirit and tone of FCC commissioner Michael Powell's new war on indecency, it's impossible not to conclude we're living in an age of increased incivility, crassness and vulgarity. Certainly censorship is no answer, and trying to force television executives to turn back the clock and offer Leave It To Beaver material would be an atrocity. But it's just as hard to shed tears over the forced removal from the airwaves of audio garbage like Bubba The Love Sponge or shows celebrating orgies and inserting sexual noises in the background punctuating disgusting monologues.
Certainly no one is forced to hear or watch this stuff, and the FCC was established as a regulatory agency, not a censorship board. But Powell knows he has a large chunk of the 40 and up crowd in his corner, people who are sick of having everything from teen sex discussions to gangsta rap flung in their face at any time of the day or night. Many of these people don't endorse or want censorship, but they're not prudes, snobs or elitists just because they're appalled people are calling into radio stations at 7 a.m. and rating their sexual partners.
There's no easy solution, and commercial radio and television people are rightly concerned that this new FCC push might negatively impact their already perilous enterprises. With cable and satellite radio and television free to air any and everything, demographic and audience projection figures aren't very pretty regarding the future of commercial broadcasting. With the exception of "reality" shows, which are daily becoming more and more ridiculous and spectacle-driven, the networks can't compete with HBO, Showtime and other outlets where four-letter words, nudity and anything else producers want to do hits the screen, no questions asked.
Powell told the National Association of Broadcasters in a speech at the end of March that "heavier government entanglement through a 'dirty-conduct code' will not only chill speech, it may deep-freeze it. It might be an ice age that would last a very long time."
Those who think this type of oversight and action is long overdue are rejoicing. It remains to be seen whether there will be any organized or extensive response from people who don't favor or support governmental overreaction, but are disillusioned with much of what they've seen and heard lately.
Los Angeles Radio People-Apr. 26, 2004
Commentary by Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper, 4.26
Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone and Viacom president Mel Karmazin recently embarked on a new venture. They've now become First Amendment champions. Rolling Stone magazine, who's also decided to join their crusade, extensively quoted both these men in an anti-FCC editorial featured in their April 29 edition.
"I don't know about you guys, but to me, a woman's breast is not such a big deal," Redstone told an investors' conference. Karmazin took a shot at Clear Channel, saying that "another company canceled Howard (Stern)'s show for no reason other than that they were going to Washington (to) testify and just didn't seem to have the courage to stand up for programming that they aired."
Rolling Stone went on to cite Redstone and Karmazin for their courage and call on not only the rest of the broadcasting industry but also those controlling the recording industry to assert themselves.
"We need figures of courage and strength to fight back in the war on culture," the writers concluded.
Unfortunately, here's an example of the wrong people being recruited to fight the right battle. Someone needs to speak out against the paranoia fueling this "indecency" movement, but it has to come from media consumers.
Despite being in complete personal disagreement with the spirit and tone of FCC commissioner Michael Powell's new war on indecency, it's impossible not to conclude we're living in an age of increased incivility, crassness and vulgarity. Certainly censorship is no answer, and trying to force television executives to turn back the clock and offer Leave It To Beaver material would be an atrocity. But it's just as hard to shed tears over the forced removal from the airwaves of audio garbage like Bubba The Love Sponge or shows celebrating orgies and inserting sexual noises in the background punctuating disgusting monologues.
Certainly no one is forced to hear or watch this stuff, and the FCC was established as a regulatory agency, not a censorship board. But Powell knows he has a large chunk of the 40 and up crowd in his corner, people who are sick of having everything from teen sex discussions to gangsta rap flung in their face at any time of the day or night. Many of these people don't endorse or want censorship, but they're not prudes, snobs or elitists just because they're appalled people are calling into radio stations at 7 a.m. and rating their sexual partners.
There's no easy solution, and commercial radio and television people are rightly concerned that this new FCC push might negatively impact their already perilous enterprises. With cable and satellite radio and television free to air any and everything, demographic and audience projection figures aren't very pretty regarding the future of commercial broadcasting. With the exception of "reality" shows, which are daily becoming more and more ridiculous and spectacle-driven, the networks can't compete with HBO, Showtime and other outlets where four-letter words, nudity and anything else producers want to do hits the screen, no questions asked.
Powell told the National Association of Broadcasters in a speech at the end of March that "heavier government entanglement through a 'dirty-conduct code' will not only chill speech, it may deep-freeze it. It might be an ice age that would last a very long time."
Those who think this type of oversight and action is long overdue are rejoicing. It remains to be seen whether there will be any organized or extensive response from people who don't favor or support governmental overreaction, but are disillusioned with much of what they've seen and heard lately.
Los Angeles Radio People-Apr. 26, 2004