Who should regulate television content during the day when children watch? Parents or bureaucrats? Certainly, it is unwise that some TV shows should be seen by children. But families have simple solutions. Turn off the TV. Or pull the plug. Or send the TV to the dumpster.
Moreover, in the next couple of years TVs will include computer chips allowing parents to limit what channels the family’s own children may watch.
What should government’s involvement be? None.
Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission has been trying to limit what TV stations show between 6 a.m. and midnight. Last week a three-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., objected, finding the FCC regulations in violation of the 1st Amendment.
The gamut of new technologies-computers, modems, portable phones, faxes, cable systems-open up bold new realms in which to exercise free speech, and the technology is advancing so fast that the FCC itself will become irrelevant. Until then, the appeals court is right to halt FCC attempts to restrain free speech.
