> One fine Fri in May, Jack Sargeant wrote to Lee Ayrton:
 >> 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> Not without violating his constitutional rights as regards
 >   JS> freedom of the press.
 > Violation of whose rights?  The station's?  Exercising self-
 > restraint isn't a
 > violation of freedom of the press.
It was meant more as tongue-in-cheek.
 >> Personally, I think that local broadcast stations should be
 >> required, as part of their license, to provide an hour of local news 
covera
 > g
 >   JS> e a day
 >> commerical free, wiht a news budget that is a fixed minimum percentage of 
t
 > h
 >   JS> e
 >> 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 
th
 > a
 >   JS> t's fit
 >> rather than all the stuff that fits. But that, of course, will nevr 
happen.
 >   JS> News departments of local TV stations are extremely
 >   JS> competitive, and will stop at nothing to either be first with
 > the news,
 >   JS> or barring that, stop the other guy if possible. An exemple as
 >
 > Yes, Jack, that's what I was trying to address.  By making news
 > programs commerical-free air time, you removing the need to grab
 > audience from
 > other stations in order to pump their own ratings and thereby set
 > higher ad
 > rates.  One would hope that by that the competition would subside to
 > a dull
 > roar, letting the end user get real news, not eye candy.  By
 > mandating a
 > minimum budget floor for news one would hope that, again, news would
 > actually
 > meet the "public service" intent of licensing and not consist of
 > solely PSAs,
 > publicity releases and manufactured fluff -- which, along with a few
 > shots of
 > bloody pavement and "on the scene" shots of a "reporter" at the
 > corner of
 > WALK and DONT WALK is what my local news here is rapidly becoming.
I'm trying to bring this V-Chip discussion (along with other censorship
discussions) to an end. We all (including myself) seem to get off onto
tangents that have little to do with movies and film discussion in
general. We can make this stop if we just let it drop. ;-)
Regards,
Jack
E-Mail: ufo1@juno.com  -  Internet ICQ #12050443
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