To: jvncnet!well.com!acg@dowv
cc: online-news@marketplace.com
In-Reply-To: <199410072258.PAA08464@well.sf.ca.us>
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On Fri, 7 Oct 1994 jvncnet!well.com!acg@dowv wrote:

> >     Nevertheless, based on First Amendment principles, the Supreme Court
> >has recognized the crucial importance in the broadcast media of the
> >fundamental right of the public "to receive suitable access to social,
> >aesthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences."  Red Lion Broadcasting
 
> Although this is not really the forum  I think the
> way to achieve diversity of viewpoints and equal political representation
> in media is not through specific decree, but through a regulatory structure
> that lowers the barriers of entry into media by encourage efficent use of
> spectrum and adoption of new technologies.  Fortunately, this seems to be
> the path the US is on.

The fairness doctrine has always been an interesting exercise in value
conflicts.  The MPAA rating system, television code, and other "morality
guidelines" have consistantly tharted the spirit and intent of the
fairness doctrine.

It is interesting to note that when the usenet newsgroups were first
restructured and reorganized many of the "alt" groups were not accessible
at all.  It was possible to get alt.christian and not alt.sex based on the
personal biases of a network administrator.  In Colorado, there were 12
Christian radio stations, 5 Christian newspapers, and 5000 weekly forums
from which proponents of a constitutional ammendment designed to sanction
persecution and discrimination of homosexuals and perceived homosexuals
were given public forum and were able to exclude opposing viewpoints on
the basis of "Freedom of Religious Expression".  As a result, the measure
passed by a 51% vote, the majority of supporting voters being influenced
by an exclusively programmed forum and media.  Similar tactics have been
used on issues such as including all forms of "sex offenders" including
prostitutes, johns, and adulterers into legislation that would expose them
to public discrimination for the rest of their lives.  The original intent
was to identify child molesters to local law enforcement agencies.  This
was possible because there was not an open forum in which this little
excursion into morality could be exposed.

A more appropriate means of handling the debates of a public issues in the
media would be to provide HTML references to extracts from the open
forums.  Selecting well articulated dialogues and then pointing to the
references to the general newsgroup would provide interested readers with
successive levels of balance.  This way, the publisher does not need to
carry or be responsible for the flame-wars that flare up in unrestricted
newsgroups. 

 



From rexb Tue Oct 18 12:39:05 1994