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The only question is is there a possibility of, first, bringing the
issue before the country.
Mr. DENVER. And you have done that and I applaud that.
The CHAIRMAN. Just talk about it and ventilate our concerns.
And secondly, is there a possibility of increasing the information
that is available to parents of kids, who have the real responsibility
for raising those children and for establishing whatever values
those children are going to have?
Mr. DENVER. I understand.
The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hollings.
Senator HOLLINGS. Welcome. I am glad to see you working, in addition
to the hunger field, the hunger of the body, and the hunger of the
mind, John. I am delighted to work with you on this.
There are some differences. For one thing, as an old trial lawyer,
we know well that Clarence Darrow made a 9-hour summation in
the Scopes trial. A trial lawyer today is competing with television
and television performers. If he makes more than a 9-minute summation, he
has lost the jury, his case, and everything else. The parent is in
competition with that 6 hours of rock coming over radio and TV.
Now, it is pleasant to talk about parents and their duties and
responsibilities, but they are in one heck of a competition out there.
We do know that perhaps with television in many, many instances,
parents are trying to do their
An additional point we have to keep in mind is the proposition of
the limited use of protected speech in the broadcast media. You
mentioned just coming back from the radio and TV broadcasters
convention last week and their tendering self-rule or regulation.
Will that discipline develop? It has not. The only censorship movement
now is that of our recent group that has gotten any kind of
offer or recognition of the problem itself.
We know, talking about free speech, that the broadcast airwaves belong
to the people. We will take a radio station in my own backyard using
four-letter words. The FCC fined them. That was not unconstitutional.
We do have some authorities, we do have some responsibilities there.
They are not all clean-cut John Denvers. On the contrary, I have
not listened to too much. It seems like the majority is otherwise.
I think that the aura or atmosphere developing in this particular
hearing is developing to make sure that we do not do nothing, or to
transmit, rather, back to the original problem, pornography, suicide,
all of this other stuff coming out of these records.
Now, the other gentleman said print the words. I rather like that,
since I would not have to read it. He would read it one way,
obviously, and I would read it differently, and there is that human
error involved.
Do you have any recommendation to the committe other than
just do nothing? I mean, you have talked in beautiful |
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