Who watches regular TV anymore, or listens to the radio? Probably just our elected officials and a smattering of religious zealots (who may also be our elected officials). Yesterday a Senate committee decided to approve a measure that upholds a strict policy that would fine and punish broadcasters for even a single “word or image” that may be considered “indecent”. Yes, this is ten steps back from the hope we had for MSM to survive, back in June when a court told the FCC to back the fuck off from censoring language. Despite marveling at how antiquated and out of touch this all seems to me, more than anything it seems bad for business. How can TV and radio hope to compete, or even survive if they can only produce muzzled (State-approved) content? They’re operating under the antiquated notion that they can still control the users’ experience. Thus dooming TV and radio to soon become as extinct as the dinosaur-era attitudes they’re foolishly trying to force on an audience who could simply not give a shit, as long as they have YouTube, TiVo, iTunes and everything else. Snip:
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee on Thursday acted to restore the government’s authority to fine television and radio broadcasters for airing profanities, even if they are fleeting references.
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In response [to the prior ruling] came the “Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act,” sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark. It would require the FCC “to maintain a policy that a single word or image may be considered indecent.”
Rockefeller said in a statement that the legislation “is a small but critical step in making sure that the airways remain free of words and images that are patently offensive to the vast majority of Americans.”
Co-sponsors were the committee chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and the top Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.
The FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, said in a statement that members of Congress “stated once again what we on the commission and every parent already knows: Even a single word or image can indeed be indecent.”
Link.