According to the Dow Jones Newswire, the FCC is about to levy a new round of indecency fines on radio broadcasters.
About a dozen cases are being finalized...and one target is Howard Stern, one of the nation's most popular and controversial radio hosts. The FCC is deciding on penalties against his employer, Viacom Inc.
Stern has been saying for the last few days that he would be targeted. Although I think the timing of this has more to do with Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," there is a possibility that he is being silenced. Clear Channel's decision to take him off of 6 markets came not too soon after Stern started to publicly deride President Bush.
During testimony to a congressional indecency hearing, Clear Channel CEO John Hogan had this to say:
...a graphic discussion of sexual acts between the show call-in guest Rick Solomon and Paris Hilton blew through "a line in the sand." (and)...the show would be suspended until "we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting."
Actually this discussion was tame by Stern standards. The fact is that broadcasters are under the gun, and if they want congressional support in their plans to own larger majorities of media markets, then you know what will happen. It's a shame that the FCC can manipulate things so the courts can't decide what's indecent on the airways.
In fact, the court has already decided what's not to be allowed on the air. The Supreme Court, in a 1978 decision, said that these words do not hold artistic value and do not conform to community standards. Joanne Ostrow had this to say in the Denver Post:
In the years since [the Supreme Court case], according to lawyer and historian Marjorie Heins, head of the National Coalition Against Censorship, "the FCC commissioners have used their free-floating indecency standard to censor counter-cultural ideas, sexual discussions and language that reflects a sensibility different from their own. Yet the FCC's censorship power would immediately be recognized as unconstitutional if the medium weren't broadcasting." Certain right-wing advocacy groups smell blood in the water since Janet Jackson's flash dance.
Hmm, the FCC is controled by Republicans, who in turn are beholden to "certain right-wing advocacy groups." It will be a long road until November. And it will almost certain be a one-sided campaign if voices of dissent are silenced.
John Ashcroft once said:
"To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve."
I have just one question for that. What will happen when are liberties are lost?