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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Each license is given for afew years only and. can be taken away if stations do not conform to FCC regulations.There are several such regulations, preventing any single group from having too muchinfluence in any area. E.g., laws prohibit any state or the federal government from owningor operating radio or television stations (stations such as Voice of America may onlybroadcast overseas). There is also no governmental censorship or “reviewing” of programsand content. There are no governmental boards or groups, which control any radio ortelevision broadcasting.
Rather, the FCC ensures that no monopolies exist and that eacharea has a variety of types of programming and stations. It also regulates media ownership:no newspaper, for example, may also own a radio or TV station in its own area, nor may aradio station also have a television station in the same area. No single company or groupmay own more than a total of 12 stations nationwide.Another FCC regulation, the so-called Fairness Doctrine, requires stations to giveequal time to opposing views and to devote some part of their broadcasting time to “publicservice” announcements and advertising free of charge: e.g.
advertisements for Red Crossblood drives, for dental care, for programs on Alcoholics Anonymous and car safety.With this “something-for-everyone” policy, even communities with only 10,000 or sopeople often have two local radio stations. They may broadcast local stories and farmingreports, weather and road conditions in the area, city council meetings, church activities,sports events and other things of interest to the community.
They also carry national andinternational news taken from large stations or networks and emphasize whatever might bethe “big story” in the small town.The big cities are served by a large number of local radio stations, of course. For instance,people who live New York, Chicago, or Los Angeleshave a choice of up to 100 AM and FMstations and many different “formats..There is also a great variety among television stations. The majority of commercialtelevision stations buy most of their programming, roughly 70 %, from the three commercialnetworks. ABC (American Broadcasting Company), CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System),and NBC (National Broadcasting Company).
Two of the TVcommercial stations inLouisville are “independent” and take their programs from a wide variety of sources. The growthof public television in the past two decades has been dramatic. PBS (Public BroadcastingService) with its 280 nonprofit, non commercial stations has become also very popular.There are plenty of cable systems serving the cities The largest cable networks are CNN{Cable News Network) which carries only news and news stories and ESPN, the all-sportscable network, or MTV, which is famous for its music videos.. There is no nationwide system or policy on cable television.
Local communities are freeto decide whether or not they will have cable television. There are many different types ofschemes, systems, and programs. Some offer top-rate recent movies on a pay-as-you-watchsystem, some offer opera and symphonic music. All are willing to provide “public access”channels where individuals and groups of citizens produce their own programming. It does notappear, however, that the hopes once voiced for cable television will be realized. Cable firms aretrying to offer something special to get many people to pay for what they can normally see freeof charge through regular public and commercial stations.At present, no one seems quite sure what will come out of the cable television, video, andsatellite or internet “revolutions”.The main problem is competition for people’s time.
Over theyears, technology and economics have produced more and more ways of occupying people’stime: more television channels, more magazines, more theme parks, and now besides traditionalmedia video and computer games, chatrooms and all other delights of the information age.Advertising Through CommercialsNumerous books and articles have been written about American commercial televisionand its programs, their quality or lack of it, their effects, symbols and power. Commercials takeup about ten minutes of every 60 minutes during “prime-time” viewing ( roughly 20% of thebroadcasting time). Every performance, except the sacred baseball match commentaries, isinterrupted by commercials.
Even the News is shown in parts.Commercials range from witty, well made, and clever to those that are dull, boring, anddumb. Advertisers have learned that unless their commercials are amusing, viewers will eitherswitch to another channel or use commercial “breaks” to get up and do something else. ManyAmericans, who pay no fee for either commercial or public TV, simply accept commercials asthe price they have to pay if they choose to watch certain programs.The money for the advertising, which is a fine art in the USA, is provided by themanufacturers of cars, soap, cigarettes, spaghetti, cosmetics, etc. Advertisements are oftenshort plays with actors and minimoviemakers command of: famous actors and actresses.Commercials are declaimed in prose and recited in verse, sung by soloists and choirs,persuading, cajoling, threatening, warning and ordering people to buy X underwear or Ycanned beans.
Every performance, except the sacred baseball match commentaries, isinterrupted to tell you that you will become reach and beautiful if you eat Z cheese or else youdie young, poor and neglected. Once during a performance of King Lear, the tragedy flowedon in its majesty until at its climax King Lear broke loose in a ferocious malediction,condemning all his daughters for not drinking ‘Optimus’ orange juice for breakfast. Freedomof speech means: freedom of great commercial firms to pull down all the rest of the people totheir own intellectual level. News is free; commercials are sacred.“The best brains in our country go into salesmanship,-said one American.-.
Any fool can make athing. What takes real brains is to sell it when the customer has got one already and doesn’t wantanother.” Advertising makes you feel that you really must have it. To do this a number adifferent effects are used:-The snob effect. This tells you that the product is most exclusive and of course ratherexpensive. Only the very best people use it.-The scientific effect. A serious-looking man with glasses and a white coat, possibly adoctor or a professor, tells you about the advantages of the product.-The words-and-music effect. The name of the product is repeated over and over again,put into a rhyme and sung several times, in the hope that you won’t forget it. The sungrhyme is called a “jungle”.-The ha-ha effect.
The advertiser tries to make you laugh by showing people or cartoonfigures in funny situations.-The VIP (Very Important Person) effect. Well-known people, like actors or footballplayers, are shown using the product.-The super- modern effect. The advertiser tries to persuade you that his product is a new,sensational breakthrough.-The go-go effect. This is suitable for the teenage market. It shows young people having aparty, singing, laughing, having a wonderful time, and, of course, using the product.Television and ChildrenWhat children watch on TV change the way they think about the world.
There are excellenttelevision programs for children. These programs include valuable lessons about good and badthings, and about positive and negative actions.There are also terrible, upsetting programs on TV made with violence, sex, or horror as themain subject.
Children who watch violence every day on TV begin to think that violence isnormal. And one day, these children will become violent, too.The effect of violent TV shows on children is an important issue in the United States. Mostresearch (one study proved that the average American child will have watched 8,000 murders ontelevision by the age of twelve) has shown that watching violent TV shows often leads to moreviolent behavior of children.How can violence on TV be reduced? One solution is for the government to regulate thecontent of television programming.
However, this is not a popular solution. In general,Americans do not like government regulation. They do not like laws that tell them how tobehave; instead, they prefer individual choice. Some people think that if you don’t want yourchildren to watch violent TV shows, you should simply turn off the TV.Some groups, particularly civil liberties groups (groups that try to protect the rights ofAmerican that are set forth in the US Constitution), say that government control of TV programcontent may be a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech..In general, the television industry agrees with civil liberties groups. In addition, industryleaders fear that the ratings system will have an impact on the number of viewers watchingcertain shows.
As a result, industry profits will be reduced. Television program writers feel thatthe ratings system will affect the creativity and content of their work. Pressured by the ratingssystem, they may produce shows that are less interesting, less entertaining, and less provocative.So how can TV violence be controlled without the government censoring TV content? Thisis an issue that concerned parents, the television industry, the federal government, and civilliberties groups.
The problem must be resolved.Soap Operas and TeenagersSoap operas are plays that originally were sponsored by soap advertisers, hence the name.They are called “operas” because they present highly emotional situations like European operas.Over the past few years, television soap operas have attracted a larger audience. Approximatelythirty million people watch soap operas, 70 percent of them female.Once thought of as entertainment for lonely housewives, dull melodramas that featureddepressed middle-aged characters engaged in long conversations over cups of coffee, thesoaps have become popular with a new group of younger viewers.
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