Truth in Broadcastimg

Posted on October 23.2007 by Peter Moss

Dear Senator Leahy: please introduce a Truth in Broadcasting bill, proposed below:

TRUTH IN BROADCASTING--MY TURN by Peter D. Moss The Federal Communications Commission [FCC] was established to ensure that the broadcasting industry, then in its infancy, would serve the public interest and convenience. Unfortunately, by political machinations, this watchdog agency has lost its watch and has become a dog. It watches only over the purity of language to protect children. But there is no evidence that "inappropriate" language has ever damaged any children in any way; vocabulary purity is merely the desire of parents steeped in a puritanical and holier-than-thou tradition. Our national problems, including but not limited to war mongering and mindless massacres caused by broadcast lies; arousing costly and frightening international terrorist violence; overstating prosperity; suppressing environmental degradation and downplaying available environmental remedies; disregarding systematic injustice to underdogs and judicial corruption, and disserving the public interest in other areas too numerous to list.

Instead, I say FCC should promulgate and enforce a TRUTH IN BROADCASTING rule. And speaking of the FCC, they deserve most of the blame for tolerating endless mendacity by the mega media, quoting warmonging George Son of a Bush [S.O.B.] about weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds and democracy and victory and Islamic terrorists and so on when it’s really only about the oil profit for the big oil companies. Accordingly, I hereby propose Truth in Broadcasting, an FCC rule that would prohibit lying and penalize liars and their broadcasters. The reason is that broadcast licenses are granted in the public interest and convenience, not for liars to defeat democracy and victimize voters. The principle should be "once a liar is always a liar." After the weapons of mass destruction hoax, George S.O.B. should have been taken off the air for life. Stations broadcasting liars should have their license revoked for one year for the first offense, and forever after a repeat offense. Whether an utterance is a lie or not, is decided by petit juries every day everywhere. No big deal.

And FCC should establish a toll free complaint line so untruthful broadcast victims can call in to give the time, the wave length or station call letters, and the substance of the falsehood. Such a rule may save the broadcast industry’s very existence.

Published in The Burlington Free Press, Sunday, July 8, 2007, page 5E

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From: Senator_Leahy@leahy.senate.gov

To: Peter28moss@yahoo.com

Subject: From Senator Patrick Leahy

Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:53:20 -0400

Dear Mr. Moss:

Thank you for sending me your thoughts on broadcast standards. As a son of a Vermont printer, I grew up in a family that placed great value on the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press. A free and vibrant press with a diversity of viewpoints is vitally important to our democracy. To protect this diversity, Congress charged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with ensuring that broadcast content is in the greater public interest. You can rest assured that I will

continue to ensure that this standard is upheld. Thank you again for contacting me, and please keep in touch.