roundtable: Sen. Robert Dole, Speaking Presidential

roundtable: Sen. Robert Dole, Speaking Presidential

Sen. Robert Dole, Speaking Presidential

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Fri, 2 Jun 1995 17:19:10 -0400 (EDT) 

Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 17:19:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
Subject: Sen. Robert Dole, Speaking Presidential
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950602171652.22066A-100000@access4.digex.net>


----------------Original Message Posted in Multiple Lists----------------- 
------------------------Republication Authorized-------------------------- 
  
FINS: Communicating the Emerging Philosophy of The Information Age       
FEDERAL INFORMATION NEWS SYNDICATE                    
Vol III, Issue No. 11 (110 lines)                              June 5, 1995
    
     
                  READ THIS ISSUE OF FINS TO CONSIDER:      
                                                             
                *   Robert Dole attacks entertainment "nightmares"
                                          
                *   Possible champion of television reform described
    
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CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP": 
Sen. Robert Dole, Speaking Presidential
By Vigdor Schreibman

   Senator majority leader Robert Dole, was in Los Angeles last
thursday to raise money for his presidential campaign, where he blasted
the entertainment industry for "debasing US culture with movies, music
and television programs that have produced 'nightmares of depravity'
drenched in violence and sex."  Dole has broken out of the mold of
politicians who wink at the providers of manipultive communications
content which will play an increasingly important role in the Informa-
tion Age.  "A line has been crossed - not just of taste, but of human
dignity and decency," Dole said.  "It is crossed every time sexual
violence is given a catchy tune. When teen suicide is set to an
appealing beat.  When Hollywood's dream factories turn out nightmares
of depravity."  Dole singled out for criticism practices of marketing
"images of evil to American children in an amoral thirst for profit."

  The Senator's dramatic statement caught cyberspace watchers in a
reflective mood.  My colleague Curtiss Priest sent out a message on the
Internet praising Dole and suggesting that other members of Congress
pick up on the "public interest" thinking offered by Dole when they
consider the pending bills on telecommunications reform [S. 652 and
H.R. 1555].  Others, however, raised warning signals about the
possible control that might be exercsed by government, academia,
religious organizations, industry, or on the Internet. 

  There is irony in this concern for control by government and academia
when one considers that right now the American people have simply given
up control over the great broadcast spectrum.  Television broadcasting,
the preeminent electronic media, has been abandoned to a small group of
financial scavengers who are promoting a "counterculture of madness"
[e.g., Fins-PaN-041, 042, 043].  Are people really safe with this?

  Congress must establish an "intelligible standard" before the exclusive
legislative power of decision about the use of the great broadcast spectrum, 
may be legitimately delegated to any agency.  Nevertheless, the "public
interest" standard that was established under the Communications Act of
1934 to govern the decisions of the Federal Communications Commission, has
never been defined and no one knows what it means to this day.  By default,
the standard means whatever the shifting body of Commissioners say it
means, and they, in their infinite wisdom have simply abdicated that
discretion to broadcasters.  The latter use their powers, not to serve the
public, but primarily to manipulate the sensitive cognitive and sensory
faculties of the listening and viewing audience by pandering to exploitive
sex, gratuitous violence, and manipulative infotainment.

  There are deep conflicts in values at stake in the work of broadcast
programming that must be overcome.  For instance, the avowed purpose
of the Act was to control the channels of communications "for the
maximum benefit of all the people of the United States."  Was the field
of broadcasting, nevertheless, supposed to primarily serve as an
efficient medium for the promotion of consumer goods guided by
materialism and the morality of the marketplace, as current regulatory
policy dictates?  Or were there other, more important consequences
sought, such as the advancement of essential social relations and
valued cultural patterns of the American people?

  Any number of such normative social and cultural goals at all levels
of the social hierarchy come to mind: to encourage and facilitate
individual self-expression; to foster interpersonal competence; to
support the human potential of families; to promote organizational
adaptive learning; to secure societal self-governance; and to sustain
international ecological balance and a life sustaining Planet Earth.

  We could have adopted an enlightened standard for the use of the
nation's preeminent communications medium but, instead, we chose 
decadence.  And that choice is killing our people and corrupting our
society.  At last, one political leader, presidential contender Bob
Dole, has had the courage to speak to these issues.  Maybe he will
also find the strength and insight to do something concrete about it.
He could start by stripping from current legislative proposals the
idea that broadcasters should be given a massive new allocation of
broadcast spectrum worth billions so that they can make even greater
profits without returning any benefits to the people.  He could also
work to establish intelligible standards, by which licensees could 
be held accountable when renewal is sought.  Accountability in the
use of a public resource is essential to good conservative government.

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