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December 20, 1944
DURR FEARS ADVERTISING IS JEOPARDIZING RADIO FREEDOM
”How free is radio?” Commissioner C, J* Durr of the Feder¬ al Communications Commission ashs in the Journal of the National Education Association, and then replies:
”If by *free radio* we mean a radio that will provide the freest possible outlet for the widest possible range of information, entertainment, and ideas, then it is not nearly as free as it should be. It is rapidly becoming less free, as it demonstrates its value as an effective and extremely profitable advertising medium, ”
Then Commissioner Durr goes on to say:
’’Advertising is a traditionally accepted and I think sound feature of our system of broadcasting. Many of the finest musical and entertainment programs would be impossible without it. However, it is one thing for advertising to be used to support a vital instru¬ mentality of public service. It is an entirely different matter when a vital instrumentality of public service becomes predominantly an advertising medium and that is 'what our broadcasting system is becoming.
”We have received many solemn warnings during the past year or so that despotic government 'bureaucrats’ are plotting to snatch away from the people the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and that the Supreme Court is aiding and abetting the plot. I suggest that you get hold of a copy of the Constitution, You will find that the First Amendment is still there.
"But there are many restraints upon our freedom other than through political restraints. With the concentration of econ¬ omic power which is increasing at a constantly accelerating pace, our actions may be as effectively limited and directed by a system of economic rewards and punishments as by duly enacted laws. More¬ over, there is no more effective way of distracting attention from these economic restraints than by focusing it on t)olltical restraints, real or imaginary.
"In testimony before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce last December, President Niles Trammell of the National Broadcasting Comoany said: ’ The argument is advanced that business control of broadcasting operations has nothing to do with program control. This is to forget that "he who controls the pocketbook controls the man. " Business control means complete control and there is no use arguing to the contrary. '
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