Council tables latest MediaSource vote
KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell reports that Council today tabled a vote on a new contract for MediaSource, the controversial custodian of the public access cable channel.
The contract apparently will impose (minimal) new screening requirements on the entity:
On Wednesday, the Houston City Council tabled a vote on new regulations for the city’s public access channel.
...Mayor Bill White asked City Council on Wednesday to consider a revamped contract that will require MediaSource staffers to review any potentially obscene or indecent shows before they air.
MediaSource has operated the channel since the mid-1980s, some of its board members have questioned whether pre-screening programs amount to a violation of First Amendment rights.
Under the mayor’s proposed plan, MediaSource staffers could ask a judge to decide if a program meets the often elusive definition of obscenity.
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reported on the proposed requirements this morning:
The proposed contract, which city officials released late Tuesday, would require Houston MediaSource staffers to watch potentially obscene or indecent shows before they air....
[snip]
The plan calls for MediaSource staffers to ask a judge to determine whether a questionable program meets the hazy legal definition of obscenity — a method city lawyers don't think violates the rights of those who produce the channel's programs.
Channel officials previously have resisted prescreening of programs and restrictions on those with controversial content for fear of encouraging First Amendment lawsuits.
"The concept of prior constraint is something we're trying to grapple with," said City Attorney Arturo Michel.
As we've suggested previously, the notion that the city cannot set guidelines for programming appearing on a public access channel because of "prior restraint" concerns is really stretching First Amendment theory to its limits.
Still, a better proposal might simply be to require ALL programs to be pre-screened, and to be labeled with ratings and content warnings, not unlike commercial television programs. Require content of certain ratings to be shown only during certain hours, and the problem is solved.
Mayor White and his new MediaSource board should hire us as (expensive) consultants!
Speaking of the MediaSource board, this little snippet from the Chronicle story caught us by surprise:
MediaSource board member Garth Jowett said the proposed plan likely would pass legal muster, but he thinks that a producer might intentionally test the rules out of principle.
He said the contract is a "compromise that will please people who are concerned that Houston MediaSource hasn't had the proper oversight," said Jowett, who resigned as chairman recently after a confrontation with a White appointee on the board.
First, what principle would be served by a producer intentionally violating the minimal rules that are being proposed? The principle of getting the channel shut down for good?
Second, why exactly did Jowett step down, and why wasn't this reported anywhere? That could be juicy enough to require the services of a gossip columnist!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/30/05 10:34 PM | Print |
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