Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

More control • Patrick Malin, American Civil Liberties Union, urged the FCC to increase government control over broadcasting. Regardless of the risks involved, he said FCC must exercise its powers to "do the job." Commission, he said, should hold public hearings before granting license renewals. FCC should also license networks. Culture guest • Prof. William Y. Elliott, Harvard U., lamented FCC's lack of authority, tv's lack of culture and the plethora of violence on the air. He called for law requiring daily prime time culture shows. An alternative, he said, would be government-owned radio and tv if the industry cannot regulate itself. point would be a Commission examination of its own policy in approving station transfers "at huge profits to the licensee." The NAFBRAT spokesman was highly critical of the FCC's actions in this category. She maintained that a licensee has the "use" of the spectrum, but not the ownership thereof, and should not be permitted to sell intangibles. She charged the networks have refused; to heed the complaints of outstanding persons against crime and violence/in programming. The two largest distributors . of crime and violence in the^ history ~of the world, Mrs. Logan said, are ABC and NBC. She placed CBS. in third place. She cited a long list of statistics purporting to show the overabundance of crime and violence in network schedules and asked the Commission to bring the networks to task. NAB's tv code "represents an improper form of censorship and an improper delegation of responsibility by individual broadcasters," NAFBRAT charged in pointing out that current abuses "have flourished under the code's so-called administration." Mrs. Logan also recommended a close scrutiny of a station's past performances at renewal time and that a licensee be given the opportunity and responsibility to exercise his own judgment in selecting programs. Mrs. Julian Whittlesey National Council of Women • Mrs. Whittlesey recommended that at least one woman be appointed to the FCC. "As mothers, homemakers, teachers, social workers, professional and lay people, they have a right to be consulted on the one hand and a contribution to make on the other." The NCW spokesman said that "all the fine codes and good intentions in 78 (GOVERNMENT) the world will not be effective unless there is a genuine understanding by the public as well as by the industry that tv is such a powerful instrument for good or evil, education or demoralization, that it can be lethal to our civilization." She joined other witnesses in attacking "imbalance of programming" to many crime and western shows and urged that more shows expressing the values of the free way of life be scheduled. Mrs. Whittlesey also called for a complete re-evaluation of all programs where there exists the possibility of fraud; immediate cessation of all payola; less and improved commercials; less emphasis on ratings; more public affairs programs; elimination of all give-away shows, and less frequent and more complete news broadcasts. The FCC itself, Mrs. Whittlesey said, should make an immediate study of possible and practical methods of licensing network programming; "be far more stringent in its renewal of station licenses"; review station programming at least once a year, and the Commission should be "greatly strengthened in personnel, staff and financing." Dr. Eugene Hoffman, American Medical Assn. • "The American Medical Assn. would like to go on record as complimenting networks and local stations alike for ably and conscientiously devoting time and talent to the dissemination of health information to the general public," Dr. Hoffman told the FCCHe outlined several years of close cooperation between AMA and the broadcasting industry providing medical information to the public. Broadcasting, he said, has been anxious that program material be factually correct and in good taste and has been most cooperative in revising scripts — some times at a tremendous cost. AMA established a 12-man Physicians Advisory Committee on Tv, Radio & Motion Pictures, of which Dr. Hoffman is chairman, following many requests from the radio-tv industry for medical information to be aired. The committee also is called upon to comment on commercials advertising proprietary medicines, he said. He said AMA supports NAB's announced plans to "clean its own house. As professional men, we are strong believers in the philosophy of self discipline, rather than government interference." Victor H. Nyborg, Assn. of Better Business Bureaus • Mr. Nyborg's testimony dealt almost exclusively with cooperation between his bureau and the broadcasting industry to rid the airways of false, misleading, deceptive and offensive advertising. He said BBB annually handles 2Vi million contacts relating to advertising and selling in both air and print media. Of these, only about 25,000 cases require action, with only 3% referred to authorities after voluntary corrective procedures have failed. BBB has found that the vast majority of tv and radio stations attempt to carry only advertising which will merit confidence in the station and advertiser, he said. In most instances, the association president said, broadcast media cooperate with BBB corrective procedures when advertising is found to be false or deceptive. "On the other hand, there is a minority in business and in the broadcasting field which uses or carries advertising which is dishonest and which, by willful design, is broadcast to mislead or defraud," he said. BBB has had a close, harmonious relationship with the NAB Code Re BROADCASTING, December 14, 1959