Free Speech Express Article on FCC Regulation

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: September 5, 2006 2:31:33 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, dewayne () warpspeed com, cuckoosnest () riddlemaster org
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 () direcway com or 800-476-7813.)




My Original Writing blog: http://itgotworse.blogsource.com



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