Under new chief, FCC considers widening its reach

[Shayne]

 http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/28/business/decency.html

The basics of this article is that the FCC wants to start governing the content on Cable and Satilite broadcasts.  While technically these are protected by the 1st amendment, the 1st amendment does not cover obscenity.

...while this is a little "Darren Dirt"ish to be posting such topics (no offense intended), i think this could be a good thing for Canada.  Since Canada is much more liberal in our views and policies many USA media companies could seek refuge.

[Mr. Analog]

 Here's my 2 cents...

How can the FCC exist under the First Amendmant?

In Canada things are supposed to be more open, and perhaps they were way back when, but with the advent of CanCon and the CRTC, media providers are forced to provide "certain content" and also ensure that media providers have a list of dos and don'ts. Now the CRTC guildlines for broadcasting standards change on almost a yearly basis (I'm sure everyone at some time has had to sit through the big blue block of text during the commercials while some monotone voice blabs on about amendments to the broadcast standards documents each Canadian-run station must adhere to) this is a Government-run institution and therefore subject to the whims of the current powers-that-be and / or lobby groups that can exert enough pressure. One of the scariest aspects of the CRTC is how freely it is allowed to censor things. If something gets blacklisted by the CRTC it is just something Canadians don't even think about, and *if* the Canadian Government decided that a piece of news was not for you to listen to they just have to inform the CRTC to blacklist it and that's the end of the issue. Sure you might hear the news through bloggers or BBC home service (if you have Shortwave like me) but who else is going to?

Both Canada & the United States claim to observe "freedom of speech", however with institutions like the FCC and the CRTC can this ever really be true?

[Shayne]

 At least the CRTC has guidelines.

I have a hardcore republican friend, his point of view on censorship (and free thought?) is that the "majority" feels that its inappropriate so their for it's inappropriate.  With 52% of USA people voting for the Red (communist?), i find it sickening that people have such a "sheep" attitude.

*Land of the free, as long as 52% of the people think its allright.

I think the larger problem is that many of us feel content just bitching about it, then actually doing something about it.  Big business will be the ones to step in and really put their foot down.  While sure most people bend over, its only gonna be so long before CBS, HBO, ABC, etc (not FOX (republican)) really start to flex the money muscle (since we know its all about votes and dollars (not in that order)).

[Mr. Analog]

 I write letters to my MP from time to time I get awknowledgement from their office but I don't hear anything let alone see them talk about it ever (not that I'm glued to C-Span), they wonder why youth have such voter apathy, in my opinion it's because most politicians (well besides the Green party) give a flying fork about what we (the smaller voting demographic) have to say.

Likewise I have written letters to MacCleans (sp?) Magasine several times but unless you are an uber-conservative gramma, stoopid blue-collar guy from Ontario or some raging nutjob from BC they don't even send you a letter back.

Last night on Global there was a "roundtable" about the seeming rise of non-traditional media sources (I refuse to use the term "blogosphere"), they all seemed rather baffled as to how someone can trust content coming to them from a source like a web log, forums, satellite radio, blah blah blah. The one horse they kept a-whuppin on was "accountability" and "credibility". Am I supposed to be impressed with traditional media sources like Global National or CTVNews? Now I get on this tangent because of accountability, I don't trust any one media source the same as I don't trust our system of Government (the decision making parts at least), there is no accountability, parties run for Parliament with a barrel full of promises and do a half-assed job at it or don't deliver at all. This pisses me off because there is no accountability for anything if a newpaper prints crap or if a Prime Minister renagles (sp?) on his promises why don't Canadians get upset? We joke that no party keeps it''s promises or that the media can't be held responsible 100% of the time, why not I say?

[Shayne]

 I near 100% agree with you Mr.A.  We have very similar views on such topics.

I find that for news the better places to go are the meta-sources.  Like news.google.com, www.fark.com, places where different views on the same subject appear in full glory.

I do tend to read a lot of blogs (not the typical kind), but blogs by people like Mark Cuban, John Carmack, etc.  People that have power to dictate trends, and have knowledgeable insite into many current/past events.

I've given up on mainstream media.  Ever try to watch a current broadcast of the 6:00 news on Global?  It starts off promissing "Earthquake in Sumatra", but quickly turns into trash, a couple notes on fatal car crashes (i could really give a rats ass), they do a 3-5 minute bit on a 2 legged dog (very news worthy), follow that up by a "Troubleshooter Report" (time filler).  

[Mr. Analog]

 It's odd you should bring up the # of car crashes (et al), as I was thinking the exact same thing watching the "News" last night. Traditional news is in business, seeing the good side of life somehow doesn't make money for them so all the news we get is either the ugly side of humanity (constantly) or BS that happens every day and while trajic, has no shock factor anymore because we see it all the time, so is it really "newsworthy".

A great quote last night, that I'll just pull out of context was "What is news" and it's ironic that the Global National anchor would say that, since essentially news it what corporate newsmedia wants us to think is news. This is why configurable, yet all encompassing new-media solutions are going to if not kill the trad newsmedia put a big ol' fire under their collective asses.

Granted "new-media" has similiar problems to "trad-media", but at least (well, with the 'net at any rate) there is more redundancy and logging going on, I can't tell you word for word what was in the newspaper 1 year ago without doing some degree of research (and as time marches on sometimes that information becomes harder and harder to find), but I can use search engine tools to find as many different source and their sources on any number of issues from as far back as 1996 or perhaps even beyond with some of the more advanced newsgroup / bbs archive searches available (not to mention, in some cases electronic versions of the newpaper article(s) themselves).

A new era of mass media is being born, just as my great-grandfather saw the rise of radio, we too will see the digital news revolution.

[Darren Dirt]

 ...and as the Dan Rathers of our era retire, I think I know who* will take their place

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* For MH n00bs, visit here or here.

[Mr. Analog]

 Finally a face I can trust! There are times I miss "Doctor, Doctor!"

*sigh*

[Darren Dirt]

 Doctor Doctor was In Da House!* I loved that show... Mr. A, as usual you are surprising me with how much esoteric pop culture taste we share (Amazing it lasted 3 seasons, it was so edgy for back then...)

heh, apparently a fellow Edmontonite agrees: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096566/usercomments - search for "Dumbest thing CBS Ever did" by some "penguin" guy.

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* Apologies to the truly "urban" members of the audience out there, for Darren Dirt's attempt to be like some street kid or something with the Ebonics, and now oh look I'm apologizing in the third person! How sad...

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PS: How in Zarquon's name did we get so off topic?

[Mr. Analog]

 Great Scott, I nearly dropped my monocle into my martini glass upon reading your communique. In the future please remand the vernacular to the cobbles!

[Darren Dirt]

FCC should be getting a ginormous Christmas card from Sirius Satellite Radio this year!



GOODBYE FROM THE TOP - Viacom president, Les Moonves and Infinity Broadcasting president, Joel Hollander, dropped by to say farewell to Howard and the show

GOODBYE FROM THE TOP

Viacom president, Les Moonves and Infinity Broadcasting president, Joel Hollander, dropped by to say farewell to Howard and the show. Howard said that Les and Joel have been nothing but gentlemen during his time at Infinity and he thanked them for all of their support. Joel noted that Howard has sounded like a new man the past few weeks, and that many people at the company are in his debt for all the money he has helped them earn. Les then said that he has already signed up for SIRIUS so he can listen to Howard in the future, while Joel added that he's done the same.



Howard admitted that, now that there are only two shows remaining, he's starting to feel a little nervous about his move to satellite. However, Howard mentioned that one thing he appreciates is that Les and Joel are allowing him to have a final show, which, he pointed out, not many people in the radio business are allowed to do. Howard also reiterated that his switch to SIRIUS had nothing to do with his feelings toward Les or Joel, but that FCC regulations gave him no other choice but to make the move.





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