Regulating Broadcast Programming

The authors argue that TV regulation should be based on the same principles used for print media, for which control of editorial content lies in private hands rather than the government.

A review of past and present efforts to regulate the content of radio and television. Krattenmaker (law, College of William and Mary) and Powe (law, government, U. of Texas) argue that such regulation should be based on the same principles used for print media, where control of editorial content lies in private hands rather than the government. They discuss the origins of broadcast regulation and the statutory and constitutional standards under which broadcast licensees operate. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The broadcasting industry’s trade association, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), sought to sanitize television content via its self-regulatory document, the Television Code. The Code covered everything from the stories, images, and sounds of TV programs (no profanity, illicit sex and drinking, negative portrayals of family life and law enforcement officials, or irreverence for God and religion) to the allowable number of commercial minutes per hour of programming. It mandated that broadcasters make time for religious programming and discouraged them from charging for it. And it called for tasteful and accurate coverage of news, public events, and controversial issues. Using archival documents from the Federal Communications Commission, NBC, the NAB, and a television reformer, Senator William Benton, this book explores the run-up to the adoption of the 1952 Television Code from the perspectives of the government, TV viewers, local broadcasters, national networks, and the industry’s trade association. Deborah L. Jaramillo analyzes the competing motives and agendas of each of these groups as she builds a convincing case that the NAB actually developed the Television Code to protect commercial television from reformers who wanted more educational programming, as well as from advocates of subscription television, an alternative distribution model to the commercial system. By agreeing to self-censor content that viewers, local stations, and politicians found objectionable, Jaramillo concludes, the NAB helped to ensure that commercial broadcast television would remain the dominant model for decades to come.

In Law in American History, Volume III: 1930-2000, the eminent legal scholar G. Edward White concludes his sweeping history of law in America, from the colonial era to the near-present. Picking up where his previous volume left off, at the end of the 1920s, White turns his attention to modern developments in both public and private law. One of his findings is that despite the massive changes in American society since the New Deal, some of the landmark constitutional decisions from that period remain salient today. An illustration is the Court's sweeping interpretation of the reach of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause in Wickard v. Filburn (1942), a decision that figured prominently in the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act. In these formative years of modern American jurisprudence, courts responded to, and affected, the emerging role of the state and federal governments as regulatory and redistributive institutions and the growing participation of the United States in world affairs. They extended their reach into domains they had mostly ignored: foreign policy, executive power, criminal procedure, and the rights of speech, sexuality, and voting. Today, the United States continues to grapple with changing legal issues in each of those domains. Law in American History, Volume III provides an authoritative introduction to how modern American jurisprudence emerged and evolved of the course of the twentieth century, and the impact of law on every major feature of American life in that century. White's two preceding volumes and this one constitute a definitive treatment of the role of law in American history.

To guide the industry in the 21st century, counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and leading attorneys have prepared the only up-to-date, comprehensive broadcast regulatory publication: NAB’s Legal Guide to Broadcast Law and Regulation. Known for years as the "voice" for broadcast law, this publication addresses the full range of FCC regulatory issues facing radio and television broadcasters, as well as intellectual property, First Amendment, cable and satellite, and increasingly important online issues. It gives practicing attorneys, in-house counsel, broadcasters and other communications industry professionals practical "how to" advice on topics ranging literally from "a" (advertising) to "z" (zoning). Now in its 6th edition, NAB’s Legal Guide to Broadcast Law and Regulation is available to keep you current on changes in the law, significant court decisions, FCC rules, agency policies and applied solutions. The National Association of Broadcasters is a nonprofit trade association that advocates on behalf of local radio and television stations and broadcast networks before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies, and the courts.

The digital age has carried with it a tsunami of change. Children who have grown up with the delivery platforms that are a part of that change are now able to absorb more and more unregulated media on their own, often without any supervision. Bedroom computers, tablets, and smart phones provide private, individualized access to all kinds of content that may not be suitable for children. What rules and regulations exist to counter this potentially threatening environment? In Regulating Screens, André Caron and Ronald Cohen examine how governments and non-governmental organizations have been doing their part to make television and the Internet safer for children. In practical terms, they provide parents, educators, and politicians with an up-to-date inventory of the existing laws, codes, and standards in Canada, as well as information on who administers them and how they can be accessed. Given the Internet's global reach, Caron and Cohen also describe access controls in place in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Regulating Screens offers efficient access to otherwise scattered and difficult-to-find information; it is essential reading for anyone interested in how to safeguard children against risky content, whether accessed on broadcast or virtual platforms.