FREEDOM OF SPEECH BY RADIO AND TELEVISION.
By Elmer E. Smead. Washington: Public Affairs Press, 1959/ 183 pp.$4.50.
That TV and radio have made a large dent on contemporary culture is conceded by every American, in some cases a bit ruefully. It is astonishing, therefore, that we have lacked so long a serious discussion of how the programs that enter our homes are influenced by public policy or by the private codes of the broadcasting industry. This book fills that need.'
Writing in a clear style and utilizing many case histories to illustrate his points, Professor Smead reveals how program controls grew out of the first regulatory steps taken by a noteworthy Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover. In the course of this evolution industry and government struggled with the problems of excessive advertising, slander, gambling, incomplete or biased treatment of public affairs, and partiality in electoral campaigns. They grew concerned over whether newscasters were influenced unduly by the opinions of their sponsors or employers. They carried on a continuing discussion of the choice between government regulation and self-regulation, and of the legal and moral validity of either in a society that professed to be dedicated to freedom of expression.
Professor Smead's comments on these issues are so temperate as to afford small comfort to any reader who is panting to wage a holy war over the irresponsibility of the broadcasting industry or the federal bureaucracy. He discloses the startling fact that soap operas, in the early 1940's, occupied over90% of the daytime hours of sponsored radio programs. But he notes also that some broadcasters managed to. expand their public affairs programs in the face of an apathetic or even indignant populace.
Other findings may appear equally shocking to reactionaries or radicals. It appears that the infant radio industry insisted that it be subjected to government control. Moreover, the industry has been more conscientious than its critics realize in providing equal time for major office-seekers and in presenting both sides of controversial public questions. A striking example was the initiative taken by the president of CBS in seeking out an eminent judge to reply to a broadcast of his own which had urged that TV and radio be allowed to cover Congressional hearings. The FCC also emerges with a reasonably good record — a much better one than is suggested by recent newspaper stories.
But Professor Smead's major contribution is to demonstrate how tough are the decisions that a regulator has to make when human rights and interests collide, as inevitably they must. Should TV, in the pursuit of its educational duties, present great dramas that contain profane or obscene language? Should the right of free speech permit station owners to conduct a vendetta against their personal or religious enemies? Should broadcasters be granted immunity from libel suits if they are not allowed to censor campaign speeches? When does a speech of the President constitute advocacy of one side of a controversial issue? When does the public interest in a diversity of editorial voices justify discrimination against newspaper owners who seek to acquire TV stations? Such questions are the stuff of regulatory administration. Professor Smead has hot attempted to spin large theoretical webs around them. Instead, he has undertaken to present specific cases and controversies in the form in which they reach the responsible official, and he has presented them well.
