a berlin blog
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a berlin blog |
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Sunday, March 07, 2004 The Bleeps of FreedomMatt Welch throws a beautiful fit over Sandra Tsing Loh's firing from an NPR affiliate in Los Angeles. General Manager Ruth Seymor at KCRW cancelled "The Loh Life" for threatening the station's broadcast license with a single, un-bleeped "fuck":Free speech, and the climate that either nurtures or stifles it, is not a trivial thing. KCRW champions itself, pledge drive after annoying pledge drive, as the shining "alternative" to evil corporate radio and otherwise fettered expression. If Ruth Seymour is using topical fear of the FCC as a convenient excuse to fire someone, then she is doing tangible violence to most of the values her station claims to profess. If she really thinks a single inadvertent "fuck" can bring down a station, then A) she's more terrified than she should be, and B) she ought to get busy with firing the engineer, and perhaps herself. There are people who have reacted to this by saying "oh, well, Sandra Tsing Loh is annoying anyway," or "what does she expect! You can't be too careful nowadays." To which I say: Check what remains of your dried-out soul Didn't we just fight a war to bring free speech and other democratic notions to a faraway land? How come we're having such fearful, old-fashioned controversies over breasts and naughty words? Or is that a stupid question? posted by Michael Scott Moore | 7:41 PM | |
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