LIMBAUGH WARNS OF DANGER TO FREE SPEECH

Drudge ^ | 2/26/04 | Drudge/Limbaugh

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

LIMBAUGH WARNS OF DANGER TO FREE SPEECH THU FEB 26 2004 12:28:21 ET

THE NATION'S TOP RADIO HOST RUSH LIMBAUGH WARNED OF GROWING GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN BROADCASTING CONTENT.

LIMBAUGH MADE THE COMMENTS AFTER HIS PARENT COMPANY CLEAR CHANNEL DROPPED VIACOM'S HOWARD STERN FROM ITS STATIONS.

'SMUT ON TV GETS PRAISED. SMUT ON TV WINS EMMYS. ON RADIO, THERE SEEMS TO BE DIFFERENT STANDARDS,' LIMBAUGH EXPLAINED.

'I'VE NEVER HEARD HOWARD STERN. BUT WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED IN THIS, I GET A LITTLE FRIGHTENED.

'IF WE ARE GOING TO SIT BY AND LET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GET INVOLVED IN THIS, IF THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO 'CENSOR' WHAT THEY THINK IS RIGHT AND WRONG... WHAT HAPPENS IF A WHOLE BUNCH OF JOHN KERRYS, OR TERRY MCAULIFFES START RUNNING THIS COUNTRY. AND DECIDE CONSERVATIVE VIEWS ARE LEADING TO VIOLENCE?

'I AM IN THE FREE SPEECH BUSINESS. ITS ONE THING FOR A COMPANY TO DETERMINE IF THEY ARE GOING TO BE PARTY TO IT. ITS ANOTHER THING FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DO IT.'

MORE

[Sabertooth]

Yes, vague & overbroad standards that amount to "I know it when I see it".

First of all, the standards right now are pretty lax, because so many don't "know it when they see it."

Second, imperfect standards are better than none at all.

It's a shared resource, and there will be compromises.

[BlueNgold]

I disagree. Recently Clear Channel put out a decency policy. They put standards ahead of profts. If Stern is such a $$ maker then the fines would be considered a 'cost of doing business'. They chose to longer do business in this manner. Stern, and Bubba, chose to knowingly violate that policy. Now they are gone. If others choose to pick up the shows in the now vacated markets then they can make that business decision. Stern's desire to air live audio of oral sex and stripping bimbos has no bearing on Rush's ability to discuss politics. Any correlation is tertiary at best and defies honest debate. (IMLTHO)

[gdani]

My how times change..........

"I don't want the government as my nanny. I still have never understood why something as simple as turning it off is not part of the answer."

-- Michael Powell

"It's better to tolerate the abuses on the margins than to invite the government to interfere with the cherished First Amendment."

-- Michael Powell

[eno_]

So I guess that means you don't have a problem with Stern describing on air, in detail what a couple of midgets are doing to strippers??

No, not a bit. I also don't waste my time trying to get Mr. Goatse off the Internet.

[Doctor Stochastic]

That's what used to be called "The Chilling Effect" of government threats to regulate speech.

[Sabertooth]

If the PEOPLE really owned the airwaves, they would be re-acutioned periodically, and radio stations would not be valued on their licenses. And the PEOPLE would be remitted the proceeds from license auctions. The current system is a corrupt mess.

There's a some truth to this, yet at the same time we recognize a value in not having a few megabuck oligarchs squatting over the entire broadcast spectrum.

Still, I'd be open to some restructuring on how license fees are set and collected. I don't really know how fees are now determined. By transmitter watt?

[eno_]

A few such oligarchs currently do squat on the spectrum just as if they owned it outright. Time to teach them a a lesson.

But the lesson won't be taught if government likes controlling the media, and the media whore themselves to government control. Both are bad, and the current display of "shock" and false piety is both revolting and unproductive.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Someone is always going to be pushing to redefine the line. That doesn't mean that society will allow it to be pushed too far one way or the other.

The internet may very well see a few restrictions, maybe even go so far as to require certain types of websites to have age verification systems (I'm not arguing for that, just extrapolating how far out it might realistically go), but probably not beyond that. That is not a restriction of speech, just a potential lessening of convenience of access.

[eno_]

Currently the practical consequences of Internet filtering and control are that sites like FR and the NRA get lumped in with neo-Nazis, Birchers, and pornographers while all manner of Socialist claptrap is just fine for the cheeeeeeldren.

[Mo1]

Thanks .. IMO, Stern brought this on himself and he needs to also take responsibility for his own actions

He knew he would shock people by putting lesbians on the air to do the nasty

[Floratina]

I'VE NEVER HEARD HOWARD STERN

I find this comment disingenuous.

I thought the same thing. Kinda like when he said he had never been to Free Republic. Although this was maybe 3 years ago, we had long before had that big DC rally that was carried on CSPAN. We were hardly a low-profile outfit. I found it hard to believe that he had never visited. At the time he made the comment, it was in response to a flurry of angry emails from some of our members. Assuming that he hadn't been here up to that point, our emails didn't pique his curiousity enough to look?

[hchutch]

Precisely.

We know how low the left will stoop to make things up. Is it not possible that they could engineer such a stunt?

[BykrBayb]

And your point? Is there a point?

btw - My name is not Michael Powell, so if you were trying to show inconsistencies in my statements, try again.

If you want to listen to pornography on your radio, watch pornography on your tv, view pornography on your computer, and create pornography in your home, that's your right. You do not have the right to force pornography to come out of my radio, tv, and computer, and into my home. If you want access to pornography, subscribe to it. Don't force everyone to subscribe to it, and then leave it up to us to figure out how to avoid it.

[LucyJo]

I'VE NEVER HEARD HOWARD STERN.

I find this comment disingenuous.

_____________________

I don't find it a bit disingenuous...I've never heard Howard Stern either, although I've heard that he has a filthy mouth.

[Sabertooth]

I don't see how that is relevant to this discussion.

Well, because you have no kids.

When you do, you'll learn what all parents learn: that there are things you never knew or considered when you didn't have kids.

Are you that unfamiliar with the following procedures:
1. Changing a channel/the station
2. Putting in a DVD/CD
3. Hitting the power button?

See my answer above.

Are you familiar with cable?

The airwaves are a public resource. Children are a part of that public, and their interests are a consideration in the standards we set for our public resource.

The shoulder-shrugging attitude that many take sewage that spews now is analogous to leaving gasoline and matches at every street corner, with some finger-wagging at parents who are concerned that their kids might get burned.

Take a VERY close look at Clear Channel's new policy, Sabertooth. Just an ALLEGATION of "indecency" is enough to get a host suspended. No proof required - just the allegation. One determination of "indecency", and the DJ/talk show host is FIRED.

Isn't that an example of Clear Channel exercising their discretion over the commodity they choose to broadcast over the public aiwaves?

Given that this incident on Howard Stern's show involved a CALLER - it was not the host that used the term, it was a CALLER - it only heightens my concern as to the precedent this is potentially setting.

It is all too plausible that under the new policy that Clear Channel has, some caller calls into Rush Limbaugh's show, uses the N-word, and some left-wing activist will have it recorded, and will file a formal complaint with the FCC and Clear Channel concerning the "indecency" shortly before the election. And then, it could conceivably be up to five government appointees to decide if the broadcast was indecent or not.

Stern wasn't just dropped for what the caller said (m which should have been editied on seven second delay -- was it?) but also for his reply, in the context of a long history of material that went to the edge and beyond of broadcast standards. Nor was their a political component to what Stern said.

If you think the Left won't try to use this to try to silence Rush, Hannity, or other conservatives, you had better think again.

I think all of the above will be just fine without the safeguard of Howard Stern shtick on six Clear Channel stations.

[Dolphy]

Funny how he wasn't ashamed until the FCC cleared its regulatory throat.

And one could just as well argue he might have been more responsible for content before threatened. Regardless, I still believe Clear Channel, with all of the rest of the battles they have been fighting, cares to fight this one. It's an opportunity for them to get a pat on the back in Washington instead of the punches to the gut they have been taking.

[dead]

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

It’s probably just rain.

Why don’t you write your congressman and see if he can get the government to hold an umbrella over your child's head?

[HenryLeeII]

Did he really speak in CAPITALS?

Rush is a big supporter of CAPITALISM!

[Sabertooth]

A few such oligarchs currently do squat on the spectrum just as if they owned it outright. Time to teach them a a lesson.

But the lesson won't be taught if government likes controlling the media, and the media whore themselves to government control.

Not sure how that lesson can be taught without government control.

I'd like to go back to the regulations preventing ownership of more than one station in a given market. I believe there may have also been regulations on the total number of stations that could be owned, nationwide.

Both are bad, and the current display of "shock" and false piety is both revolting and unproductive.

I think your perspective is a bit jaundiced.

[afz400]

"So, if the American people went mad tomorrow and decided that Limbaugh or any conservative radio show had to go, you'd be ok with that, right? "

THE POINT IS THAT RUSH LIMBAUGH DOES NOT OWN THE AIRWAVES - HE USES THEM UNDER LICENSE WITH THE AMERICAN PUBLIC - ARE YOU EVEN AWARE OF THAT?