Sailing into a “Vaster Wasteland” of information

When you turn on the TV, what do you watch? Is it news, is it gossip, is it just the weather? Like many people today, you likely find yourself with over a thousand channels but never anything ‘good’ on to watch. When television was first introduced, it changed the way we receive information, and the American Government saw how harmful it could become if not regulated.

One of the main priorities of the FCC today is to make sure broadcasters are broadcasting what is in the public’s best interest. Since the dawn of television, we have slipped further and further away from doing that. PBS, the free educational television, is on the chopping block in the latest presidential election, with NPR right behind it. Major corporations like NBC, CBS, and ABC have a majority of the broadcast spectrum available for viewing by anyone with a television, yet they rarely have educational programming. They charge public officials for airtime, and cater to the highest bid for programming. Instead of running a business to help inform society, the big broadcast corporations are out for the bottom line.

When trying to censor the public airways, the freedom of speech always comes into play. Personally I do not see an issue with uncensored public broadcast channels as long as it is information for the public’s interest. If the people are asking about the war efforts or the national debt or the latest hair style, it should be allowed to broadcast television. The big three broadcast corporations should be working together to inform society as opposed to battling to get the best ratings. At the end of the day, you should be able to turn on the television to the news and receive the information that pertains to you, not the information that pays the most.

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