"Faggot" phobia.When Green Day sing that they are the faggot America" in their hit single "American Idiot," they are rejecting the "redneck agenda" and "paranoia" that in their view are sweeping the nation. So there is some irony in the fact that the word "faggot" has been bleeped out of the song on a number of radio stations across the country, presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. because of its indecent nature. Finding out the procedure for such an absurd act of censorship is not easy. Wade through the policy statements and obscenity violation documents the Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. makes available to the public, and you will fast get lost in a sea of legal jargon. A spokeswoman for the FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. , however, says the FCC has no capability to police the airwaves and that the organization only responds to complaints from the public. "Only then can we determine the context of the complaint," she says. That leads the search to Clear Channel Communications Not to be confused with clear channel radio stations, which are AM radio stations with certain technical parameters. Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU) is a media conglomerate company based in the United States. . The radio giant announced this year that it would institute a policy of "zero tolerance" for indecent content, Despite repeated calls to get an answer about the Green Day bleeping bleep n. A brief high-pitched sound, as from an electronic device. v. bleeped, bleep·ing, bleeps v.intr. To emit a bleep or bleeps. v.tr. on Clear Channel stations, company representatives were unavailable for comment. Maybe they were avoiding any press, since that very week Howard Stern announced that he was leaving all Clear Channel stations and was headed to satellite radio system Sirius, which is not liable to fines from the FCC. "Bleeping a word like 'faggot' in this instance is not because the FCC has ever ruled on a case like this, but because people are afraid," explains Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director of People for the American Way People For the American Way (PFAW) is a progressive advocacy organization in the United States. Under U.S. tax code, PFAW is organized as a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. The current president of PFAW is Ralph Neas. . "It's, unfortunately, one of many examples of the chilling effect the FCC has had in causing many broadcasters to go far beyond the definition of indecency INDECENCY. An act against good behaviour and a just delicacy. 2 Serg. & R. 91. 2. The law, in general, will repress indecency as being contrary to good morals, but, when the public good requires it, the mere indecency of disclosures does not suffice to exclude to block artistic works." "'Faggot' is not a word which would qualify as indecent," believes Marjorie Heins, founder of the Free Expression Policy Project in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . "This is clearly an instance of corporate censorship on the part of Clear Channel. Since the FCC is not involved, the First Amendment doesn't read that as an issue. Clear Channel is deciding that for its own marketing strategy or corporate ideology that it wants to bleep out a word, and therefore it's not a First Amendment issue. However, it is a serious problem. It wouldn't matter if they only owned a couple of stations, but they own over 1,200." |
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