The Public Interest, Pornography, & the Fcc Leadership Dynamic
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American broadcast-media policy has been on a pendulum between liberalization and more restrictive regulation since passage of the 1934 Communications Act, which introduced the Fairness Doctrine as a bridge between pubic interest and commercial interest and vetted regulatory authority with a seven-person Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This pendulum-like sway between deregulation and more restrictive government control has been fueled by advances in technology; shifts in the political, ideological, and moral landscape; and by the distrust of government among many U.S. Americans.
Much of the FCC citizen input, participation opportunities, and systems are laced with the values, morality, and social fabric of previous generations, responding poorly to the rapid pace of technology and public demands. This is reflected in the FCC practices impacting citizen involvement, the regulation of communications (including the Internet, broadband, news media, the press, and television programming), the promotion, and television programming), the promotion of public-service advertising (PSAs), and shepherding publicly owned platforms, spectrums, and other media products. The book examines the legal, political, and social implications of continuing the practice of allowing broadcasters self-monitored Public Service Broadcasting to satisfy the requirement that radio and television broadcasters serve the public interest. Additionally, the book identifies best practices and benchmarks leading to recommendations intended to improve public-service delivery in support of local community values and the protection of Americas youth.
Dr. J. Anthony Snorgrass
J. Anthony Snorgrass possesses outstanding credentials in advertising, management, administration, and brand development. He received his Ph.D. from Walden University's School of Public Policy and Administration focusing on new media communications in public policy environments and non-profit management. He also holds two Master's degrees from the Ohio State University and a B.A. from the University of Kansas. He is certified as an Economic Development Specialist (EDS) by the National Development Council and has national certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Snorgrass specializes in new media, augmented reality applications, accessibility, universal design strategies, brand cultivation, and diversity marketing.
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The Public Interest, Pornography, & the Fcc Leadership Dynamic - Dr. J. Anthony Snorgrass
The Public Interest,
Pornography, & the
FCC Leadership Dynamic
Dr. J. Anthony Snorgrass, PhD
iUniverse, Inc.
Bloomington
The Public Interest, Pornography, &
the FCC Leadership Dynamic
Copyright © 2012 by Dr. J. Anthony Snorgrass, PhD.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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ISBN: 978-1-4759-3896-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-3897-5 (ebk)
Contents
Prologue
Introduction
Chapter 1 Encircled by Conflict and Burgeoning with Hysteria
Chapter 2 Requisites for Effective Public-Interest Stewardship
Chapter 3 Coddling the Power and Raft of Congress
Chapter 4 Policy Ambivalence and the Public’s Interest
Chapter 5 The Roots of Regulatory Dysfunction
Chapter 6 Reclaiming Public Stewardship through Druckerism
Chapter 7 Porn Industry Out Shadow Boxes FCC
Chapter 8 The FCC as Disruptive Innovator
Chapter 9 Organizational Implications of Limiting FCC Merger Reviews
Chapter 10 Forbearance: A Regulatory Enforcement Headache
Chapter 11 Escaping the Content-Regulation Quagmire
Chapter 12 Indecency, Obscenity and Profanity: Deciding What’s Fair to Air
Chapter 13 Ownership Rulings Crisscrossed
Chapter 14 Avoiding Net Neutrality invites De Facto FCC Internet Regulation
Chapter 15 That FCC Sunset is a Mirage
Chapter 16 Toward a More Customer-Centric Organization
Chapter 17 The Perfect Storm—Inadvertent Convergence of Programs and Personnel
Chapter 18 The Volatile Nature of the FCC’s Performance Planning
Chapter 19 Brilliance Is Not Always Practical
Chapter 20 Transformation Can Be Rough Around the Edges
Chapter 21 The Cold Business Calculus of Raising the Value of Information in a Competitive Environment
Chapter 22 Speak FCC Truth to Power through Outcome-Based Regulatory Processes
Chapter 23 Back to the Future: Applying Sayre’s Reality-Based Organizational Model to the FCC
Chapter 24 Conclusion
References
Prologue
Much of the FCC citizen input, participation opportunities, and systems are laced with the values, morality, and social fabric of previous generations, responding poorly to the rapid pace of technology and public demands. This is reflected in the FCC practices impacting citizen involvement, the regulation of communications (including the news media, the press, and television programming), the promotion of public-service advertising (PSAs), and shepherding publicly owned media products. The book examines the legal, political, and social implications of continuing the practice of allowing broadcasters’ self-monitored Public Service Broadcasting to satisfy the requirement that radio and television broadcasters serve the public interest. Additionally, the book identifies best practices and benchmarks leading to recommendations intended to improve public-service delivery in support of local community and youth concerns.
American broadcast-media policy has been on a pendulum between liberalization and more restrictive regulation since passage of the 1934 Communications Act, which introduced the Fairness Doctrine as a bridge between pubic interest and commercial interest and vetted regulatory authority with a seven-person Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This pendulum-like sway between deregulation and more restrictive government control has been fueled by advances in technology; shifts in the political, ideological, and moral landscape; and by the distrust of government among many U.S. Americans. Traditional leadership theories provide a historic context for the examination of the leadership role of the legislatively titled (although politically insensitive) FCC chairman in the face of the incessant pressures for media expansion, the introduction of new multi-channel media delivery systems and the explosion of electronic communication alternatives like satellite and wireless transmission, internet, video games, email, instant messaging, e-zines, and text messaging (Hausman, 1999).
The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms. The President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson and only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party (FCC, 2007). There have been 27 individuals to serve as FCC Chairman, some serving more than one term, but there has not been a female to chair the FCC since its inception (FCC, 2007). This places a premium on the leadership the chairman must employ in balancing commercial interests, political interests, and those of the citizenry. Today’s highly charged environment focuses on the commercial push for relaxed media-ownership rules, consolidation across mediums, the emergence of user-generated media, and the preponderance of attention being directed toward obscenity, indecency, and profanity across media. Thus the environment threatens this delicate balance and may result in change to the basic tenets of the regulatory scheme established in the 1934 Communications Act which was preceded by the 1927 Federal Radio Act. They established that balance in exchange for free and exclusive use of the publicly owned electromagnetic spectrum of channels, and the premise that broadcasters serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity
(FCC, 2007). This book focuses on an examination of the organizational dynamics and leadership exhibited by internet-era FCC chairmen in the exercise of their powers in the context of traditional, contemporary and emerging organizational-leadership theories. This is particularly salient with regard to the FCC chairmanship responsibilities in guiding the FCC to determine and protect a fluent public interest and to formulate effective public policy to protect the public airways.
The book will also highlight the FCC’s responses to legislative changes, enforcement mechanisms, and policy shifts that reflect its underlying values, assumptions, and leadership dynamics over time. A critical examination will ensue of the historical overview of the FCC organizational structure and chairman’s leadership styles and their influence upon legislative initiatives; FCC actions and policy positions impacting e-government; FCC debates and positions regarding free-speech considerations; and FCC stands in safeguarding pubic broadcast spectrums.
Introduction
Given the volatile nature of the challenges that have been placed before the FCC for