Реферат: Why Dirty Words Are Dirty Essay Research

Recently the FCC’s authority to regulate broadcasts had been challenged

once

again. Howard Stern, self proclaimed “king of all media” and morning show

“loudmouth” has given the FCC plenty of headaches. In 1987, the FCC

introduced a new regulation to broadcasters. The regulation stated that

“broadcasters could not say anything patently indecent or offensive to your

community.”(Stern, 1994) Before this broadcasters only had to worry about

the “seven dirty words”. This new rule seemed to lack a specific meaning.

The broadcasting of indecent material was clearly stated and understood

since the Pacifica case. To say broadcasters could not say anything

“offensive to your community” just reinforced the idea that the government

want’s to conform people to their way of thinking, acting and speaking.

As most of us are aware, many communities are dissimilar and comprised of

many people who might have different outlooks on what indecent material

would

consist of. This new regulation sparked much protest against Howard Stern

from many communities and individuals because the FCC essentially made the

“citizen” the watchdog. If one person in a community heard Howard Stern, or

any broadcaster, say something that was offensive to them and reported it

to

the FCC, the FCC was required to take action and administer penalties.

With this new regulation many watchdog groups and campaigns formed with the

soul purpose to “remove the obscene and indecent Howard Stern from the

airwaves.”(Stern, 1995) One with great influence in particular was the

“Morality in America Campaign” headed by a minister from Mississippi named

Donald E. Wildmon. Mr. Wildmon, famous for these types of protests,

orchestrated a heavily promoted national letter writing campaign to the FCC

by sending out flyers to communities across the nation. Because of this

action the chairman of the FCC, Alfred Sikes, took a closer look at Howard