Was it simply 4 years of Bush’s born-again presidency? A Clinton-Lewinsky reaction? Newt’s cynical “Contract with America”? Twelve years of “compassionate conservatism” under the Alzheimer Kid and GW Sr.? Or have they simply been there all along and we’ve all been lulled into some mistaken belief that we’re becoming a more mature and open-minded society? ‘Cause this whole ‘clamp-down on the media’ thing by the FCC & Congress has gotten WAY out of hand!
In the wake of the SuperBowl fiasco, the FCC is falling all over themselves trying to appease the knee-jerk conservatives out there that are convinced that the country's going to hell in a handbasket because there was a flash of nudity. Their first reaction was to change the fines from $27,500 per incident to $275,000 per incident. This was enough to scare the big conglomerates that own most of the national media in this country to start backpedaling and pulling content off the air for fear of being fined.
Now Congress is working to trump this by raising the fines to $500,000 per incident and to fine not only the broadcaster (the one that carries the license and should thus be subject to these fines) but the person who says or does whatever it was that incurred the fine (whether that be DJ, celebrity guest, or Joe Average on the phone that lets slip an F-word). And, just to make sure it covers everything, they're not giving any guidelines, saying, in effect, that "we'll know when you've violated the law when we hear/see it".
Most of the "experts" I've heard weighing in on this seem to feel that it's unlikely that this will actually survive a court challenge, thanks to the vagueness of the language and its obvious effect on free speech. But in the meantime, if this bill passes, it can have a chilling effect on ANY kind of speech on the radio, TV, cable, etc., as everyone scrambles to avoid getting fined, not knowing what they're going to get fined for.
The ACLU has set up a page here, which you can use to send a fax to your Senators telling them that you oppose this legislation.
KROQ's Kevin & Bean Show has also put together this page:
Let your voice be heard. Stop the FCC now! Click Here!
(this link takes you to the Kevin & Bean page. The actual link you'll be looking for is about a third of the way down.) This page provides you with more links, phone numbers, etc. so you can really get going on this, if you feel really motivated.
Thanks to election year politics, everyone's afraid to back away from this for fear of being seen as “soft” on indecency (god, there’s a wicked pun there… I’ll leave that to your imagination). So it's not getting as much opposition in Congress as one might hope. In all the coverage I've been listening to on this, there is the assurance that emails, faxes and letters on these topics do carry weight. Oftentimes, it doesn't matter what the content of the message is… something as simple as "I oppose this idea and urge you to do the same" can be effective, as staffers will simply tally the messages they get in support to an idea and those they get in opposition to it in order to get a feel for the "popular vote" on the topic.
So if you feel at all in agreement that this is a bad idea, at least use the ACLU link to send a quick fax to your Senators and urge them to oppose this legislation. And if you really feel like getting in on the debate, the KROQ page will link you to the FCC, The President and Congress. Don't sit back and ignore this one, though. The Puritans sure aren't.
In the wake of the SuperBowl fiasco, the FCC is falling all over themselves trying to appease the knee-jerk conservatives out there that are convinced that the country's going to hell in a handbasket because there was a flash of nudity. Their first reaction was to change the fines from $27,500 per incident to $275,000 per incident. This was enough to scare the big conglomerates that own most of the national media in this country to start backpedaling and pulling content off the air for fear of being fined.
Now Congress is working to trump this by raising the fines to $500,000 per incident and to fine not only the broadcaster (the one that carries the license and should thus be subject to these fines) but the person who says or does whatever it was that incurred the fine (whether that be DJ, celebrity guest, or Joe Average on the phone that lets slip an F-word). And, just to make sure it covers everything, they're not giving any guidelines, saying, in effect, that "we'll know when you've violated the law when we hear/see it".
Most of the "experts" I've heard weighing in on this seem to feel that it's unlikely that this will actually survive a court challenge, thanks to the vagueness of the language and its obvious effect on free speech. But in the meantime, if this bill passes, it can have a chilling effect on ANY kind of speech on the radio, TV, cable, etc., as everyone scrambles to avoid getting fined, not knowing what they're going to get fined for.
The ACLU has set up a page here, which you can use to send a fax to your Senators telling them that you oppose this legislation.
KROQ's Kevin & Bean Show has also put together this page:
Let your voice be heard. Stop the FCC now! Click Here!
(this link takes you to the Kevin & Bean page. The actual link you'll be looking for is about a third of the way down.) This page provides you with more links, phone numbers, etc. so you can really get going on this, if you feel really motivated.
Thanks to election year politics, everyone's afraid to back away from this for fear of being seen as “soft” on indecency (god, there’s a wicked pun there… I’ll leave that to your imagination). So it's not getting as much opposition in Congress as one might hope. In all the coverage I've been listening to on this, there is the assurance that emails, faxes and letters on these topics do carry weight. Oftentimes, it doesn't matter what the content of the message is… something as simple as "I oppose this idea and urge you to do the same" can be effective, as staffers will simply tally the messages they get in support to an idea and those they get in opposition to it in order to get a feel for the "popular vote" on the topic.
So if you feel at all in agreement that this is a bad idea, at least use the ACLU link to send a quick fax to your Senators and urge them to oppose this legislation. And if you really feel like getting in on the debate, the KROQ page will link you to the FCC, The President and Congress. Don't sit back and ignore this one, though. The Puritans sure aren't.
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