IP Democracy: Presidential Candidates and The First Amendment

John Eggerton at Broadcasting and Cable has this excellent piece that prognosticates on just where the leading presidential candidates will likely stand on free speech matters, specifically as they relate to the electronic media. Expect Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to “pump up the volume” on TV violence and indecency, emergency communications, media ownership, food and drug marketing, and campaign-finance reform, Eggerton writes.

With the next president set to take office four weeks before the massive switch-over from analog to digital TV, expect the government’s DTV converter program (never heard of that? It’s a program that will subsidize the cost of digital tuners for people who don’t have digital TV sets and can’t afford to purchase the digital boxes) to also become a campaign issue.

Clinton, as Eggerton notes, has never been a big fan of the media, and is particularly concerned about the effects of media exposure on children. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who could — in some alternative universe, I might add — emerge as a candidate, wants to revive, of all things, the Fairness Doctrine, which used to force broadcasters to present “balanced” views on matters of public importance. (The prospect of a Fairness Doctrine revival has my former boss, Patrick Maines of The Media Institute, in a state of near-rage, as an internal memo obtained by Eggerton attests.)

Like Clinton, Obama has banged on the bad-for-children drum, and is in favor of stronger parental controls and better TV ratings. He also tilts toward stronger public interest obligations for broadcasters.

McCain is no friend to cable and wants a la carte programming, while Guiliani is, well, it’s not clear from Eggerton’s piece where Guiliani might land on the spectrum of First Amendment issues as they affect the electronic media.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 12, 2007 8:14 PM to IP Democracy