On 11 Apr 2007 at 16:02, Andrew Stiller wrote: > On Apr 11, 2007, at 3:08 PM, dhbailey wrote: > > > > I do -- Imus proved once again that he should never have been > > allowed near a microphone. Ever. > > > > And puts a lot more ammunition into the hands of those who would > > restrict rights such as freedom of speech, which was predicated on a > > certain sense of common civility that is sorely lacking these days > > in many who have the luxury of the airwaves on their side. > > Evidently you have not read many 19th-c. newspapers.
That's not a reasonable comparison, because radio/TV is a *broadcast* medium using airwaves that have value only because of government regulation of who can use them (if there was no regulation, it would be chaos, with the broadcaster with the biggest transmitter winning out on each frequency, which could be unpredictable). The key thing that happened was the Reagan FCC's dropping of the Fairness Doctrine, which was a regulatory mechanism whereby broadcast license holders had to show that they were giving something back to their communities in return for the license to public airwaves. Cable TV rather alters that situation, but in the case of Imus, his TV broadcast was on a cable network, but his radio show (which is what was being televised) goes out over public airwaves, so the involvement of MSNBC doesn't really change that equation. Newspapers from the 19th century were not limited by there being a finite resource (i.e., newsprint and ink are infinite as long as you can afford them, whereas the airwaves are severely limited), and you couldn't accidentally expose yourself to opinions within a particular newspaper by accident, as you can with broadcast radio and TV. So, the comparison completely breaks down on all levels, I think. On the other hand, I do believe that people today are too sensitive about any number of things, but I also believe the reaction to Imus is absolutely fine -- drive him out of business by public outcry. The part that bothers me is the number of other broadcasters who more regularly engage in hate speech who are given a free pass, because, well, they are right-wing loonies and nobody expects them to say sensible things. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
