Fcc: Help or Hindrance

A long, long time ago our fore fathers sat down and drafted the most influential document of our lives as Americans, The Constitution. In this historical guideline for a free society the first Amendment deals with what they thought was a main need in our society that did not necessarily exist in other cultures at that time. This main need was free speech. Since this document was put into place, the issue of free speech has been heatedly debated among the common public, big business, and worldwide industries. The government has always been the moderator in cases dealing with free speech, much like when the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) fought diligently to get the government to mandate warning labels on media containing adult material and succeeded. However, in our society nowadays the enemy is the moderator. A government supported agency, the FCC, has violated the right of free speech from U.S. citizens by over-censoring the media along with also hurting American businesses by issuing outrageous fines to supposed “offenders” without solid grounds to do so.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was put into place in 1934 by the government to regulate the airwaves in the U.S. Up until recently it had performed its duties to the needs of the public after careful analysis of each infraction. However, at the Super Bowl in 2004 during the half-time show a wardrobe malfunction, which exposed Janet Jackson’s breast, caused the powers that be to crack down on the entertainment industry as a whole. The actual infraction was during a dance routine in which Justin Timberlake touches the chest area of Ms. Jackson and pulls her toward him by using her blouse, however the blouse apparently ripped and exposed her nipple. The response to this obvious accident was completely uncalled for. The FCC fined CBS over a half a million dollars for this accident. Then on Feb. 16, 2005 the House of Representatives passed the Broadcast