One fine Mon in May, Jack Sargeant wrote to Maureen Goldman:
 >  Explain how this parent or parents can monitor the shows that
 >  their kids view.  An obvious answer would be to have no
 >  television at all.  Since all kinds of shows are aired at all
 >  sorts of hours of the day, I can't think of any solution other
 >  than something like the v-chip.
  JS> Not even the v-chip would have prevented THIS from 
I'm not so sure.  I can see where TV stations might simply send out coding 
requiring adult access for "breaking news" interruptions.  I wouldn't bet the 
farm on it happening, though.
  JS> happening... A
  JS> local TV station breaks into the afternoon cartoon show for 
  JS> the kiddies
  JS> to show a man being chased by police, leaving his truck, 
  JS> taking his
  JS> rifle over to the guard rail, and then blowing his brains 
  JS> out all over the white concrete.
After setting his dog on fire.  They should have gone to some sort of delay 
then and there.
  JS> This happened last week. Later, the TV station manager said, 
  JS> "I'm in the
  JS> business of showing the news, not censoring it!"  There's a 
  JS> guy I would enjoy ringing the neck of. ...Off camera, of course.
And, of course, he's wrong about only showing the news.  By sending his helo 
out to cover something that isn't really news but rather a macabre "man bites 
dog" story he's _manufacturing_ news.  
Personally, I think that local broadcast stations should be required, as part 
of their license, to provide an hour of local news coverage a day commerical 
free, wiht a news budget that is a fixed minimum percentage of the station's 
operating budget.  With news departments not having to support themselves and 
no ratings to scramble for, perhaps we'd get all the news that's fit rather 
than all the stuff that fits.
But that, of course, will nevr happen.
 
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