IRVINE, CA—After the Super Bowl’s "wardrobe malfunction," there has been a headlong rush to expand the powers of the FCC over the media, via stiffened fines and tighter enforcement. "But no one has noticed that the very existence of the FCC is a flagrant violation of the right to free speech," says Dr. Robert Garmong, senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute.
The FCC demands that every broadcast station receive a license for permission to use the airwaves, in exchange for a promise to serve the "public interest." But "no other media are subjected to such restrictions: imagine the outcry if the New York Times could publish only whatever satisfied the government’s idea of the public interest!" says Dr. Garmong.
Politicians have begun whispering demands to censor PBS or the Fox News Channel, "on the grounds that their alleged biases violate the ‘public interest.’ Both the liberals, with their political correctness, and the conservatives, with their puritanical religious ethics, claim to speak for the ‘public interest.’ Can it be long before the two sides begin the battle over which ideas and values Americans are allowed to see and hear on-air?
"In the name of the first amendment, free speech, and individual rights America must abolish the FCC."
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Dr. Robert Garmong, a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute, is available for interviews.
Contact larryb@aynrand.org or (800) 365-6552 ext. 213.