Overview of the Topic:
With the emergence of
electronic media, the U.S. federal agencies which regulated the dissemination
of radios and radio stations emerged accordingly. The Federal Radio Commission
was founded in 1927 as the aftermath of unsuccessful communication among the
radio broadcasters and stations. The FRC was substituted with the FCC (Federal
Communication Commission), which continued to regulate the growing spectrum of
the electronic media.
When talking about the First
Amendment rights among broadcasters, they have less protection than the print
media does. For the most part, only licensed users may use a certain spectrum
of broadcasting. Moreover, the FCC is in charge of making sure that the
broadcasted content is in the public interest, yet FCC cannot censor the
broadcasting material.
Additionally, the FCC set a
rule that requires from the broadcasting stations to air at least three hours a
week of content that is suitable for children and their cognitive needs. Other than
this, the FCC had set a series of strict regulations that guide the amount of
broadcasting, the nature of the content, and times of broadcasting as well.
Most importantly, every
broadcast station must have an FCC license in order to be able to broadcast. The
license is given to the stations that are able to meet a set of complex and
strict standards that tend to be adjusted often.
The Supreme Court made the
rules about cable stations having to carry some broadcast stations a
constitutional rule. This forces cable carriers to set aside certain number of
channels for lease. Also, the law limits the number of channels a cable system
may devote to programming in which the system’s owner has a financial interest.
The Internet has full First
Amendment protection, with limited regulation from the FCC.
Defining Key Terms:
Electronic media:
broadcast and newer forms of media that utilize electronic technology or the
digital encoding of information to distribute news and entertainment.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC): An independent U.S. government agency, directly
responsible to Congress, charged with regulating interstate and international
communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.
Federal Radio Commission (FRC): A federal agency established by the Federal Radio Act in
1927 to oversee radio broadcasting, succeeded by the FCC in 1934.
Notice of proposed rulemaking: A notice issued by the FCC announcing that the commission
is considering changing certain of its regulations or adopting new rules.
Broadcasting: Use
of the electromagnetic spectrum to send signals to many listeners and viewers
simultaneously.
Spectrum scarcity:
Because a limited number of broadcast radio and television stations in a geographical
area may use the spectrum without causing interference, the spectrum scarcity
arises.
Lowest unit rate:
the maximum rate a broadcaster or cable system may charge a politician for
advertising time during the 45 days before primary election and the 60 days
before general elections.
Zapple rule: a
political broadcasting rule that allows a candidate’s supporters equal
opportunity to use broadcast stations if the candidate’s opponents’ supporters
use the stations.
Retransmission consent: Part of the federal cable television law allowing
broadcast television stations to negotiate.
PEG access channels:
Channels that cable systems set aside for public, educational and government
use.
Nonduplication rules:
FCC regulations requiring cable systems not to carry certain programming that
is available through local broadcasting stations.
Net neutrality: The
principle that holds that ISPs cannot charge content providers to speed up the delivery
of their goods.
Important Cases:
Red Lion Broadcasting Co. Inc. v. FCC – The Court ruled in favor of the Red Lion, stating that
the station did not exceed its authority nor violated the fairness doctrine for
the political coverage.
Relevant Doctrine:
The FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order (the three banned
practices)
Throttling: Broadband providers cannot impair or degrade Internet traffic
on the basis of content, applications or services.
Paid Prioritization: No “fast lanes”. Broadband providers do not favor some
traffic over other traffic.
Blocking: Broadband providers may not block access to legal content,
application or services.
Current Issues/ Controversies:
Generally, the Internet has
provided relative amount of anonymity to certain users that have been hiding
behind their avatars and virtual profiles. This often creates more freedom of
expression among the anonymous users, where some of the cases grow into cyberbullying
and disseminating extreme speech through Internet.
The issue that has come to be
in some areas of the U.S. is whether cyberbullying deserves First Amendment
protection. Numerous laws have been overruled by the Supreme Court as vague or
overbroad, allowing for the Internet bullying to continue consequence-free.
As extreme speech is protected
by the First Amendment, rational thinking may be that cyberbullying (which are
mostly cases of online extreme speech) should also get the same protection. However,
the emotional distress that it may cause and the levels to which it may be
directed to only certain number of people potentially draws a different line of
law to limit online freedom of expression.
Nonetheless, the Internet is
still fully protected by the First Amendment, as its wide and global spectrum
is hard to regulate on some equal level.
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment