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FCC Declares The Howard Stern Show Is ‘News’ 9/12/2003 Shock jock gets exemption to interview The Arnold.
The Howard Stern Show, which largely consists of sex talk and profanity, is a “bona fide news interview” program, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
In hopes of broadcasting an interview with California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Howard Stern Show, Infinity Broadcasting, syndicator of the Stern radio show, had requested an exemption from the requirement that would have demanded the program give equal time to the other candidates. The FCC granted the exemption on September 9.
The FCC based this decision on the 1984 Donahue ruling, in which the Commission expanded the definition of “bona fide news program” to include shows beyond the scope of a traditional hard news interview format.
Since that decision, the Commission has included The Jerry Springer Show, The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, and Politically Incorrect as news programs.
In Tuesday’s ruling the Commission also noted that it would not vigorously enforce the “equal time” provisions of the Communications Act.
“Although we take this action in response to Infinity’s request, we emphasize that licensees airing programs that meet the statutory news exemption, as clarified in our case law, need not seek formal declaration from the Commission that such programs qualify as news exempt programming under Section 315(a),” wrote W. Kenneth Ferree, chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau.
“What this means is that every ‘morning zoo’ disc jockey whose brother-in-law is running for city council can put him on the air without worrying about giving equal time to anyone else,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a communications lawyer who heads the Media Access Project in Washington, in The Washington Post. “They’ve removed the notion that a bona fide news interview show is supposed to apply to journalists. If Howard Stern is a real journalist, real journalists should be upset.”
“This shows how out of touch the Commission is and how beholden it is to the conglomerates that are serving up garbage on the nation’s airwaves,” said Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture and Family Institute.
“The FCC’s lack of enforcement of broadcast decency laws has allowed our nation’s airwaves to become virtual sewers,” Knight said. “This ruling widens the sewer tap into our already troubled political process. It really is time for a housecleaning at the FCC."
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