Censorship In Radio Essay -- essays research papers

 Censorship in radio For the past several years Freedom of speech in America has had it’s meaning changed many times. Although the changes have gone unnoticed by most Americans, In the radio business they are felt day in and day out. radio personalities, programmers, and owners have to deal with this everyday but they too have no real idea what the Federal Communications Commission’s idea of free speech is. You see the rule seems to change depending on who you are. If you are tagged by the FCC anything the broadcaster does or says is monitored and picked over and fined.( Howard stern. King Of All Media.165-166 ) The FCC has been picking on Howard Stern for years, they singled Howard for doing â€Å"trash radio†. But according to Stern other programs are saying or doing the same if not worse things than he is. Stern tells of when Geraldo said (Stern Miss America. 526-530.) in a show about the Mennendez brothers being molested for doing something wrong. â€Å"Hel l, I’m not for child molestation, but if I knew anal sex . . . punishment, I’d keep my room clean.† Geraldo goes untouched. but Howard got fined for saying â€Å"lesbian’s filled with lust.† (Howard Stern. Miss America.519). That seems a bit more tame to me but since Stern is tagged he gets fined. The First Amendment states. â€Å"congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech.† This rule, over the years has changed to â€Å"congress shall make . . .† as interpreted by the FCC (king of all. 165) this makes no sense the word freedom, according to Webster’s Dictionary means the state of being free from constraints, possession of political and civil rights, unrestricted access or use yet, the FCC is in charge of what can and can’t be said over the airwaves. The FCC is the god of the broadcasting industry, they do not have to answer to anybody they have all the power to do whatever they want. The basic rule for a deejay is that he/she may not use the seven dirty words, all know them and understand they can not use them, But what nobody knows is, what else can’t a deejay say over the air. The rules are not documented. Most stations go by their own policy, And if their policy is wrong and something goes over the air that isn’t supposed to they can get pulled ( off the air) or fined. Martin Espada is a person who got pulled from the air and his poem censored. ( all things censored. 20-22 ) Espada says, he wr... ...finity finally just got tired of this and paying off the fines â€Å"and were talking millions† said Stern. (miss America.519.). There are ways to stop all the censorship in radio but it most likely wont ever be stopped completely. There are groups and political parties there to help the cause such as the ( Libertarian party ) Libertarian Party, and Freedom For Speech. But neither is very powerful so I propose some easy solutions. The Supreme Court must look over the First amendment remember what it stands for and limit the power of the FCC this organization has way too much power. There is checks and balance in all other government except for the FCC the Supreme Court should set up another origination to balance the power, like congress they would have to vote majority rules on every censorship issue and all other regulations that are set and regulations to be set. This way there would be no overwhelming power to decide what can tell them to do. But the easiest thing that can possibly be done the most simple solution that any one with arm’s can do is. See that dial on your radio? turn it. it really is that simple if you don’t like what you are hearing turn it off. Word Count: 1352