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Michael Powell to Leave FCC
Anonymous Slashdotter writes "Michael Powell, chairman of the FCC, will be stepping down from his post soon. 'Powell, who maintained a light regulatory hand as the nation's chief media watchdog but collected some of the largest indecency fines against U.S. broadcasters, planned to issue a statement Friday but was not expected to hold a formal news conference, these officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.'"
... shan't miss him.
Check out his on-air confrontation with Howard Stern from a couple of months ago... riveting stuff.
I'm not wrong. You haven't thought about it hard enough.
Howard actually won big assuming Sirius keeps the checks coming to him and they don't bounce.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
First... Stern's going to Sirius... that'd be the correct spelling.
Second, the Commission is limited in who it can fine for what reasons. Since Stern is not a licensee, is not deliberately or inadvertantly interfering with other communications and isn't operating radio transmitting equipment without a license, the FCC can't fine him. They can only fine the "person" responsible for the broadcast - the station owner, who *is* a licensee, and as a condition of licensing, agreed to follow FCC rules.
Remember, Infinity chose to employ Stern and broadcast his program. Clear Channel chose to carry his show. Other groups/stations chose to carry his show.
Similarly, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are not Commission licensees, were not operating any type of transmitting equipment and weren't interfering with anything. So neither could be fined by the FCC.
The licensee is the one with the burden of preventing indecent material from reaching the air, not the performers.
Now, I don't personally agree with fining them. My own view is that there are two buttons on a radio or television -- one changes the channel, the other one turns it off. Use them, monitor what your children listen to/watch and don't expect the government to babysit for you.
Hello,
Howard Stern actually called into an interview Michael Powell was doing with KGO radio in San Francisco last October. Interesting enough, one of Howard Stern's main complaints was the FCC was preventing Viacom from buying stations.
More information (MP3, transcript) can be found at Boing Boing.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Dexter is a good dog.
I don't know whether it's too late to un-do all the damage he has done to Amateur Radio by coating BPL with teflon and ramming it through - but hopefully common sense will prevail and BPL will be shelved...
Close -- but Nixon gave them the power over content.
This
They have been taken to court over the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court has ruled that it is within the public interest to have the FCC place reasonable restrictions on content aired within certain times over public airwaves. Moreover, even outside of those times, it is legal to limit broadcast material over public airwaves that is patently offensive. Transmissions over more limited media (cable and satellite) do not fall within the domain of the FCC, as has been determined by the courts on occasion, and which I believe even Michael Powell has stated in declining to get involved in certain satellite and cable broadcast issues (don't recall them specifically offhand).
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Unquestionably because the FCC is becoming more strict. It's easy to prove this because the EXACT same shows that could be aired a couple of years ago garner fines today. Saving Private Ryan is one example. Howard Stern's "best of" shows are another. A third is that "The Family Guy", a cartoon, is going to pixellate an animated butt that aired without a problem just 6 months ago.
The nation has taken a significant swing towards the conservative end of the political spectrum. You may think this is a good or bad thing, but you cannot deny that it is happening. Oh, wait, the GOP can deny anything it wants. Truth no longer matters. I forgot.
Whether one uses a heavy hand in regulating, or a light hand, says nothing regarding the stiffness of fines you impose. There is no connection between these two concepts.
Not to spoil your fun being an oppressed Republican and all. But I would prefer, in the spirit of your "giving credit where credit is due" post, why give Powell and the FCC for what the FTC is doing? Check it out.
Given that the whole point of the HDTV transition is to clear a chunk of spectrum for auction (i.e. the transmission channel for the old format won't exist any more), the proper response is to shrug and call their bluff -- they either supply HD content or they go out of the media business.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Last I checked, no one has been forced to buy an HDTV compatible TV yet, but suddenly everyone is getting them...
You have a screw loose. Not "everyone" is getting them. Hell, I have only seen them in stores and on display at the State Fair.
They aren't impressive, they certainly aren't worth the tax money that was spent forcing their creation, and they certainly aren't worth the money we will have to plunk down when we want to watch TV.
But then again I'm not brainwashed by TV marketing...
Jesus, I hate this Tipper Gore crap. She didnt censor ANYTHING!!! Hell if anything she opened the way for more explicit lyrics/recordings. All she did was force record companies to put labels on their records to warn parents of possible objectionable material. You can always tell the republicans in the crowd because they just cant understand what the hell is going on around them. Bush has done more to censor media in this country than anyone else period, he is positively Victorian.
This "Abolish the FCC" thing is absurd. Without the FCC to allocate spectrum, TVs, Radios, and communication devices would not have come about because there would be no standard frequencies on which to operate.
A better solution is NOT abolishing the FCC, but to limit their powers to be allocating spectrum and making sure accepted equipment does not interfere with one another.
We NEED the FCC. The only abolishment that should happen is the FCC's right to determine what should and what should not be said on the air.
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
Anyone who has listened to Stern for more than a few years knows the FCC has been on his back no matter who is in the White House, and blaming all his troubles on the Bush administration is a gross misrepresentation of the situation.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.