Regulation Flashcards
What are the two reasons broadcast media is heavily regulated?
- Pervasive and Accessible
-accessible to children
-easy to turn on - Scarcity of Spectrum Space
-only 7 VHF tv station per geographic region
-someone decides who broadcasts
Regulation examples
rules, licenses
Why has there been a move towards deregulation?
- Tech has made space more available
Ex: cable can bring hundreds of stations, stations are available with satellite and internet - Tech has made controls over what children can see
Ex: a V chip can block shows with certain material and ratings
*because of tech advancements, scarcity and accessibility are no longer big issues
Old regulations vs new regulations
Old: used to be a rule that a company can’t own more than three tv stations
New: now can own as many as you want as long as they don’t reach more than 40% of the public
New: some stations must air 3 hrs of educational content each week
Why are most new regulations fruitless and ineffective?
-many don’t know what a V chip is
-not clarified what is considered educational
Most regulation in the US is…
self-regulation
Self regulation
-most mediums regulates itself with a code of ethics
-regulation is moral rather than legal
-most mediums have a standards and practices department
-internet regulates itself with their own rules, many regarding prohibition of sexual material and racists posts
-rules have become more elaborate and far reaching (e.g. FB deleted nearly 30 million posts that violated rules regarding hate speech)
Who is involved in regulation? (6)
- Interest/advocacy groups
- Parents
- Librarians
- Publishers
- Employees
- Sensitivity readers
Interest/Advocacy Groups
-may pressure media to have/not have certain things
Ex: Fundamentalist Christians leading American Family Association opposed gay characters and urged boycotts of companies that funded such shows
Ex: Parents Music Resource Center wanted explicit language warning on music because they feared negative influence on children
-sometimes counter productive (Terry Rakolta example of show Married with Children)
Parents
-may protests books in schools that they view as inappropriate
-has impacted what material schools have in their library
-there are parents groups on the right and the left
-right often claims pushing political message or LGBTQ+ books
Ex: Harry Potter accusations of pushing witchcraft and Satanism
Ex: left wanted to ban the book Of Mice and Men because of claims of ableism
Librarians
-select what books will be included in the library’s collection
-tend to lean progressive
-study found that many conservative books (e.g. The 1619 Project, The Communist Manifesto) are not found in libraries in schools
Publishers
-may approve or disapprove of certain books
-measures take to avoid controversy
Ex: Dr. Seuss book pulled from publisher because of potential racism
Employee Activism
-may try to get companies to not publish or sell certain books
Ex: prevention of Woody Allen autobiography at Hachette Book Group after an employee walkout
Sensitivity Readers
-readers who flag content, often related to racism, sexism, etc
-not just done in books
-material may be flagged if the character in the book is different from the race/ethnicity of the author
Ex: American Dirt book about illegal immigrant to US controversial because character was Mexican and author was not
-references to color may be flagged due to fears of racism
-may flag words such as “fat” or “ugly” to avoid being offensive
-going after books that have already been written (e.g. Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl)
-often to align with progressive ideals
-e books automatically change
-not a new concept; Catholic church used to change texts
