[IP] Free Speech Express Article on FCC Regulation
Begin forwarded message:
From: Randall <rvh40@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 5, 2006 2:31:33 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx, dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, cuckoosnest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Free Speech Express Article on FCC Regulation
http://htdaw.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=379361
Monday, September 04, 2006 at 11:20 PM EDT
COMMISSIONER QUESTIONS INDECENCY RULINGS
ASPEN, CO -- In a speech to the Progress & Freedom Foundation,
Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein warned that the FCC
majority has gone too far in its recent broadcast indecency
decisions, and that the agency risked having the courts take away the
ability of the FCC to prevent the airing of indecent material.
"I believe that the Commission's last batch of decisions
dangerously expands the scope of indecency and profanity law," he
told his audience, "without first attempting to determine whether we
are applying the appropriate contemporary community standards."
"The Commission's authority to regulate indecent content over the
public airwaves was narrowly upheld by the Supreme Court with the
admonition that we should exercise that authority with the utmost
restraint," said Adelstein. "Given the Court's guidance in <http://
caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?
court=us&vol=438&invol=726>Pacifica, the Commission has repeatedly
stated that we would judiciously walk 'tightrope' in exercising our
regulatory authority. To put it simply, I believe that a 'rational
and principled restrained enforcement policy' is not a matter of mere
regulatory convenience; it is a constitutional requirement."
Adelstein particularly objected to the the FCC decision in which the
acclaimed Martin Scorsese documentary /The Blues: Godfathers and
Sons/ was found to be indecent.
"It was clear from a commonsense viewing of the program that coarse
language is a part of the culture of blues musicians and performers,"
said Adelstein. "To accurately reflect their viewpoint and emotion
for blues music requires the airing of certain material that, if
prohibited, would undercut the ability of the filmmaker to convey the
reality of the subject of the documentary."
As a result of that FCC decision, PBS must now decide what to do
about documentarian Ken Burns's, /The War,/ a soldier's-eye view of
World War II. According to <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/arts/
television/22pbs.html?
ei=5065&en=0138f41b3bd4b616&ex=1154145600&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
>New York Times reporter Elizabeth Jensen, those who have seen parts
of the 14-plus hours documentary, which took Burns six years to
produce, say they are replete with salty language appropriate to
discussions of the horrors of war. What viewers will see and hear
when the series is broadcast in September 2007 is now an open question.
In addition to Commissioner Adelstein, numerous Constitutional
scholars have suggested that the FCC is on thin ice in its approach
to regulation of broadcast indecency. That view is reinforced by
reading the words of Justice Stevens, capping the <http://
caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?
court=us&vol=438&invol=726>FCC v. Pacifica (1978) Supreme Court
opinion which is the basis for the FCC broadcast indecency regulation
authority:
"It is appropriate, in conclusion, to emphasize the narrowness of our
holding. This case does not involve a two-way radio conversation
between a cab driver and a dispatcher, or a telecast of an
Elizabethan comedy. We have not decided that an occasional expletive
in either setting would justify any sanction"
Adelstein's comments and text of the broadcast indecency part of his
speech are from: John Eggerton, <http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
article/CA6365703.html?display=Breaking+News>Broadcasting & Cable,
8/24/06 Â
(Free Speech Express is free to Free Speech Coalition members.
Contact sunlove@xxxxxxxxxxxx or 800-476-7813.)
My Original Writing blog: http://itgotworse.blogsource.com
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