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O'Shaughnessy comments on Phil Lombardo's recent views re: FCC indecency crackdown (2/4/05 RBR #25)

http://www.rbr.com/epaper/issue25-05-lom.html

"The battle is joined ...I could hear the sound of brass clanging when Phil Lombardo got up off his chair and headed for the podium at the Media Institute luncheon in D.C. last week.

The NAB chairman deserves great credit and the gratitude of everyone in our tribe for his courage and bravery in moving the indecency issue to the front burner.

His speech alone won't stop the government's runaway freight train loaded with censorship - but Lombardo's declaration is a rallying cry for our timid profession which has met the incursions with such an embarrassingly muted response.

I am a broadcaster ... and a businessman. So as a businessman I quite understand the "practical", political reasons why our fellow broadcasters are signing consent decrees with the FCC to settle Indecency complaints: Cost ... of Doing ... Business.

But how high a price are broadcasters willing to pay?

We broadcasters, who are about "the People's Business", should have a lot of trouble consenting to censorship.

We are licensed to operate "in the public interest." The public's chief interest - I believe - is in having its most powerful press - the so-called electronic media - free to tell the truth, whether that is in a news story or to be found as an artistic expression.

Clearly, the Government is not representing the People's interest ... or upholding the Constitution, when it uses its vast life and death power to censor information - or images or words or expression - it doesn't like.

Such a climate is a breeding ground for intolerance. It is dangerously rampant today. And our profession has done nothing - collectively or individually - to stop it.

We await a savior, a statesman. "Where have you gone, Mr. Paley? Where have you gone, Dr. Stanton?"

We, all of us, all the disparate elements of our profession: Radio ... Television ... the Networks ... the Independents ... the Groups ... will one day regret failing to more vigorously check government power on indecent speech ... if ... if the next questionable, edgy or controversial category - not just those we have heard and observed ... but those not yet imagined or uttered - turns out to be something we suddenly decide - at the moment - is more worth fighting for.

What I am trying to say is only that if we wait until our own ox gets gored, it will be too late.

Because we didn't try to stop it now.

Where the Electronic Press is concerned, the People must be allowed to represent themselves ... by resorting to the remote control and finding their salvation and relief in the on/off button.

It's just ... that ... simple.

And that essential. For all of us. As broadcasters. And as citizens.

My message for all the inheritors of the wisdom of James Madison who are in the classroom today is this: (Mr. Madison's birthday is March 16th by the way. But of course you knew that!):

The message - in Madison's day - and now - is clear: The unintended consequence of giving up the First Amendment to save a buck ... is that you could actually lose two bucks instead.

Satellite radio will be happy to embrace any popular programs that broadcasters want to "self censor" off our airwaves.

And cable and satellite and phone companies ... and the internet and the DVD market are all perfectly willing and able, freely, to program to their audiences.

This is a time not to be hunkering down or pulling into our shells and counting the riches and money we have already made.

Rather this is a time - a critical time - to stand up for the freedoms that will allow us to program to our audience ... and to be competitive in a multichannel marketplace!

Issues of indecency and obscenity should be handled by the courts, not by politically appointed bureaucrats who also renew (and have the power to deny) licenses and franchises ... and also have the ability to bestow "favors" on our tribe (ranging from imposing must carry obligations on cable and satellite operators ... to deciding how many media outlets broadcasters can own.)

When a licensing body has the "life or death" power over business (some would call it a profession) ... it is very tempting for the owner or permittee of that entity to sacrifice First Amendment values - and freedoms - in favor of adopting postures that please the regulators.

The courts are well equipped to deal with indecency and obscenity (where local standards are important.) Issues as to indecent and obscene speech for all other media (cable, film, the internet, newspapers, magazines) are decided by the courts.

Broadcasters should no longer be second class citizens.

Everyone is well aware of the Petition presently at the nation's highest court seeking to undo Red Lion which was brought by Tribune and the networks.

In the intimacy of this room ... the "dirty little secret", however, is that many broadcasters don't want to see the end of Red Lion.

They are afraid of losing their status as a "scarce resource" which operates "in the public interest" ... and are thus so "essential" they must be carried on cable or satellite.

The networks are ready to abandon the "public trustee" concept and challenge the continued viability of Red Lion. (The networks don't even see themselves, its been suggested, as broadcasters. Rather, they now fancy themselves "program providers." And they want to buy more stations.)

Now this is not a plea for Red Lion. Because it is that Decision that enables the Government to march into our newsrooms and studios and intrude on our creative processes.

Somehow we have to make it clear that even though many believe there could be "some" regulation ... we don't believe that should extend to content controls.

Even as we seek to find a balance between the "real world" with its "political" and economic considerations ... and the idealism of those immortal and precious words found in the First Amendment ... we must agree that some things are not negotiable.

We have the obligation to step up because we hold the franchises ... for the moment.

It's not just about decency and obscenity. It's also, ultimately, about political speech and discourse.

We should put aside tactics and strategies and bickering over ownership caps and must carry ... and fight for the right to program our news and cultural and entertainment offerings ourselves.

We take this stand not to enhance our purses or increase our holdings. And not even because we are broadcasters.

But because we are Americans who love this country and have great confidence in the People's precious right and ability to decide."

--William O'Shaughnessy, President of Whitney Radio and Editorial Director of stations WVOX and WRTN, Westchester, NY and former chairman of Public Affairs for the NAB.


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