Free speech under attack: Howard Stern taken off the air

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Fri, 09 Apr 2004 01:46:57 -0400
From: Tim Meehan <tim () ocsarc org>
Subject: United States: Free speech under attack: Howard Stern taken off 
the air
To: pierre () achilles net, declan () well com, dave () farber net
Organization: Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis

"The FCC fined each station for two specific incidents during a single program,
the first time the commission has done so. Previously, the FCC levied fines for
an entire program, no matter how many different indecent utterances occurred."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040408/ap_on_go_ot/fcc_howard_stern_9

Howard Stern Dropped After FCC Threat
By JONATHAN D. SALANT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators Thursday proposed $495,000 in indecency fines
against Clear Channel Communications for broadcasts by Howard Stern, prompting
the nation's largest radio chain to drop the country's best-known shock jock.

Clear Channel suspended Stern in February from its six stations that carry his
program, which regularly features graphic sexual discussion and humor. It
decided to make the move permanent after the Federal Communications Commission
(news - web sites) cited the chain for 18 alleged violations from Stern's April
9, 2003, show.

"Mr. Stern's show has created a great liability for us and other broadcasters
who air it," said John Hogan, president of Clear Channel Radio. "The Congress
and the FCC (news - web sites) are even beginning to look at revoking station
licenses. That's a risk we're just not willing to take."

In a statement posted on his Web site, Stern said he was not surprised by the
fine. He characterized it as furtherance of a "witch hunt" against him by the
Bush administration.

"It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free
speech takes place in the U.S.," he said. "It's hard to reconcile this with the
'land of the free' and the 'home of the brave.'"

The FCC investigation was prompted by a listener in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who
complained about a Stern program that included discussion of sex accompanied by
flatulence sounds.

Federal law bars radio stations and over-the-air television channels from 
airing
references to sexual and excretory functions between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when
children may be tuning in. The rules do not apply to cable and satellite
channels or satellite radio.

The FCC imposed the maximum fine of $27,500 for each of 18 violations on six
Clear Channel stations: WBGG in Fort Lauderdale; WTKS-FM in Cocoa Beach, Fla.;
WTFX-FM in Louisville, Ky.; KIOZ in San Diego; WNVE in Honeoye Falls, N.Y.; and
WSDS-FM in Pittsburgh.

The FCC fined each station for two specific incidents during a single program,
the first time the commission has done so. Previously, the FCC levied fines for
an entire program, no matter how many different indecent utterances occurred.

Commissioner Michael Copps, who usually dissents from indecency decisions
because he says the penalties aren't strong enough, was part of a unanimous
commission this time.

"I have long advocated that the commission use all of the tools it has to 
tackle
indecency on the public airwaves," he said. "Today's decision is a step forward
towards imposing meaningful fines."

Last month, the FCC proposed fining Stern's employer, Infinity Broadcasting,
$27,500 for a Stern show broadcast July 26, 2001, on WKRK-FM in Detroit. The
show featured discussions about sexual practices and techniques.

Infinity paid $1.7 million in 1995 to settle various violations by Stern. The
Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group, said fines against Stern
accounted for almost half of the $4 million in penalties proposed by the FCC
since 1990.

Stern has charged on the air that he's being punished for his criticism of
President Bush (news - web sites). Clear Channel's political action committee
and its employees have given $265,800 to Republicans for the 2004 election, 
more
than any other broadcaster, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a
nonpartisan research group.

"You've got to vote Bush out to send a message as a Howard Stern fan," Stern
said during one recent broadcast. "There's a cultural war going on. The
religious right is winning. We're losing."

A conservative advocacy group, the Parents Television Council, applauded the
FCC's decision.

"Stern is a repeat offender of the most commonsense decency standards and we
welcome the news that the FCC is moving to combat these patently indecent
shows," said L. Brent Bozell III, the group's president.

        

___
--
Tim Meehan, Communications Director
Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis
tim () ocsarc org * http://www.ocsarc.org * (416) 238-5367 

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