Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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■ In my opinion
A legacy of censorship
Speech is at the heart of being hu
man. Language, free and open, allows
us to express ideals, communicate with
one another and work together in our
search for the path to ultimate truth.
However, speech becomes useless un
less somebody is allowed to listen.
Michael Powell leaves the Federal
Communications Commission with a
nauseating legacy behind him. Under
him, detested deregulation the process
of allowing media conglomerates to
gobble up ever-larger shares of the mar
ketplace of ideas — reached new ago
nizing heights, enough that his own Re
publican colleagues broke ranks to
protest. While his lax leadership may
have been good for business, it was bad
for the rest of us. We would like to think
that our information comes from unbi
ased sources, but too many corpora
tions have given into politicization for
us to be quite so naive.
Clear Channel, the company behind
60 percent of the nation’s rock radio
stations, showed how quickly it was
willing to support censorship when, af
ter the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it sent
out a list of 150 songs that might be
called “offensive,” including Louis
Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful
World” and Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train.”
During the election, Sinclair Broadcast
Group, a company with the power to
reach a quarter of the televisions in U.S.
households, refused to air Tbd Koppel’s
speech on Nightline in which he listed
off the names of all the U.S. soldiers
who have died in Iraq. Both companies
are tied to the Bush family.
The more consolidated the media
are, the fewer opportunities view
points have to flourish and the easier
it is to pull one over on the nation.
Without separate and distinct voic
es, there are no checks on politicians
or on the smiling people feeding us
what is laughingly labeled “news.”
__
IENNIFER MCBRIDE
QUASHING DISSENT
Powell has supported more obvious,
but no less insidious, censorship in the
form of vague and restrictive guidelines
that are selectively enforced. “Nipple
gate,” served a la Janet Jackson, cost
Viacom over a half million dollars in
fines and still apparendy reverberates in
the hearts and minds of the people who
are too afraid to show “Saving Private
Ryan,” lest they invite the Gods of Si
lencing’s wrath. The Public Broadcast
ing Service had to bleep words from
documentaries on Puerto Rican poets
and Masterpiece Theatre in order to
keep from treading an almost invisible
line, resulting in broadcasts that sound
ed less like television and more like an
inebriated gorilla playing Operation.
Even the British comedies are consid
ered worth cutting for their use of im
proper language. The music group
Bono also narrowly escaped being
burned at the stake for daring to utter
an on-air expletive. The shame! The
agony! Think of the children!
Think of the First Amendment.
Think of impervious committees that
use the rules as an excuse to poison
programs they disagree with. I wonder
if Powell would show the same concern
if anti-abortion groups ran advertise
ments with graphic imagery. Perhaps I
am being overly cynical, but the vicious
and the vindictive actions of a single
committee have had a chilling effect on
speech that I find singularly repulsive.
Powell may be retiring, but the alter
natives hardly seem better. Though not
ed for their independence and less radi
cal views than Powell, both of the lead
ing candidates for chairman of the FCC
have previously had their pockets lined
with telecommunication conglomer
ates’ contributions or endorsements. It
is doubtful that their autonomy stretch
es any further than their integrity.
This is the price we pay for democ
racy: electorates choosing foolish ad
ministrations that use their ignorance
and arrogance to shut out independ
ent voices. Government officials
should be a little more invested in civil
liberties than in furthering their own
dynasties. It might be worthwhile for
the power-hungry to remember that
arbitrary laws will someday be in the
hands of the enemy. It would be better
if everyone could agree that some
things, such as freedom of informa
tion, should be held inviolate, but
blood-thirsty bureaucracies intoxicat
ed with their own power will only be
come more and more abusive unless a
truly neutral party comes to stop it,
and no court is completely above par
tisan interests.
Perhaps Powell’s most frightening
move was the tyranny he inflicted, not
on the American public, but on his own
allies. The New York Times reported
that one member of the FCC voted
against the chairman only to have his
travel budget slashed to nothing. He
paid a price for his choice to dissent.
When any governing body tries to
suppress opinion by cutting the funds
of those who disagree with it, democra
cy is undermined to an intolerable de
gree. Justice Anthony Kennedy reminds
us that “inconvenience does not ab
solve the government of its obligation
to tolerate speech.” Let us listen to
these words before we lose the freedom
so preciously hoarded.
jennifermcbride@dailyemerald. com
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■ Editorial
Yellow ribbon
complaint —
code red free
speech threat
The Emerald editorial board would like to
take a moment’s break from our weeklong
dissertation on the wrongdoings of the PFC to
discuss a related, but slightly tangential, ex
ample of the depressing state of free speech at
the University.
A campus employee was ordered to remove
a “Support the ’IYoops” yellow ribbon decal
from his maintenance truck after a second
employee complained about it Friday.
State law forbids public vehicles from being
used to further political messages. In fact,
state law forbids any personal messages on
state vehicles. In a statement released by Uni
versity President Dave Frohnmayer, he says:
“Whether the message is Support Our lYoops,
Fund Cancer Research or Support Tsunami
Relief, employees may not place personal
stickers or magnets on state-owned vehicles.”
Nice job throwing those obscure bureau
cratic rules back in the face of that patriotic
sucker. Congratulations. You are on firm legal
ground. But, Dave, if ever there was a time
when the rules were meant to be broken, this
was the time. Sometimes common sense and
decency must trump the letter of the law.
The decision itself isn’t half as infuriating
as the fact that somebody actually com
plained about a yellow ribbon. Is that how we
do things now? One anonymous person com
plains, and the yellow ribbons are quickly re
moved; one anonymous person complains,
and the Oregon Commentator’s mission is
quickly rejected.
This is the senseless crap that is killing the
University. This is the kind of behavior that
makes communities unbearable environ
ments for the truly open-minded people. How
can anyone who gives a lick about freedom
and art and the community of ideas keep his
or her sanity when our leaders are telling us
that supporting the troops is against the rules
and that the Commentator engages in
hate speech?
There is always somebody who says the
Emerald is overreacting every time we use the
C-word: censorship. “Nobody cares about an
$8,000 fee, one campus magazine or one
sticker. That’s not censorship — that’s barely
news,” they are probably saying to them
selves right now. These people are wrong.
If we wait until books are being burned out
side the EMU before we can discuss the issue
of censorship, then it is already too late. The
apathetic attitude that many people have
about these issues is proof positive of censor
ship’s insidious effect on culture. Listening to
how some on this campus have justified de
funding the Commentator or the Emerald is
truly scary.
When partisanship becomes an acceptable
excuse for denying speech, then we have re
ally lost the battle. When a campus does not
explode with outrage the instant anyone
threatens his or her outlets for free expres
sion, whether it be publications, radio, televi
sion, stage or elsewhere, then censorship
has won.
Where are the those on this campus who
can stomach supporting our troops? Where
are the those on this campus who can still
take a joke? Where are the those on this cam
pus who revel in a difference of opinion?
Where are the those on this campus who care
about free speech? It is now up to you to show
the rest of your brethren the way, before they
permanently alienate you from the majority
of Americans.