TCU Daily Skiff Wednesday, March 03, 2004
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Stern’s suspension sets bad precedent
‘Fear Channel’ bows to government pressure


Howard Stern and his guests are notorious for saying what they want when they want.
This time, his loose-tongue tendency has caught up with him.

Last week, Clear Channel Communications, the United States’ largest radio company, suspended the broadcast of Viacom’s Stern show.

Clear Channel officials said they won’t air his show again until it can conform to an “acceptable standard of responsible broadcasting.”

The question is, what exactly defines “acceptable?”

In our society of free speech, we’re not sure.

Clear Channel officials reported that the content on Stern’s show was vulgar and showed a complete disregard for both women and blacks.

But people should know that when they turn the radio dial to Stern’s show, anything goes and anything is said.

If they don’t want to risk being offended, they should simply not tune into his show.

Sure, the comments were offensive to many people, but isn’t this country about allowing people to express themselves?

Yes, actually it is. And we’ve come to appreciate free speech.

It seems odd that after years of offensive broadcasting, “Fear Channel” has just now suddenly dropped Stern. We’re sure inappropriate content on his shows didn’t start two weeks ago.

The company’s new zero-tolerance, “holier than thou” agenda is a clearly catering to a FCC and Congress still enraged over Janet Jackson’s exposure during the Super Bowl.
And if Clear Channel will drop Stern for vulgar comments, we wonder what shows the media conglomerates, perhaps with pressure from the government, will decide should be next.
 
 
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