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Stern forced to cancel Schwarzenegger interview

10 comments on Stern forced to cancel Schwarzenegger interview

Stern forced to cancel Schwarzenegger interview
: Thanks to the innane FCC equal-time rule — and to his company’s spineless lawyers and bosses — Howard Stern was forced to cancel an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning.

This was going to be Schwarzenegger’s first major interview and it would have been informative. Stern is a great interviewer and he’d be asking the questions the voters would want asked. On the weekend gab shows, they tried to make fun of Schwarzenegger’s media choice but George Stephanopoulos got it right: He said Stern’s is the No. 1 show in California and Schwarzenegger is going where the voters are.

But the voters won’t get to hear what Schwarzenegger has to say under questioning because of the equal time rule. Stern’s dimwitted station manager and wimpy lawyers said that if he talked to Arnold, he’d have to talk to all 130 candidates. Stern begged them to fight and get an FCC exemption but they didn’t.

This is wrong on so many levels. Stern’s show is facing this fight because he’s not considered news (hey, there’s just as much fluff on three hours of the Today Show — and Stern makes a helluva lot more news than any other show) and also because the FCC has a hard-on for him. The FCC — the government — should not be in a position to determine what is news and what isn’t and what we can and cannot hear. As a result of this rule and its unfair enforcement, it’s the electorate that suffers. Instead of assuring that we are better informed, we are less informed. That is the government infringing free speech and the free market of ideas. That is wrong.

Email the FCC to fight for Stern
: Here is where you can email FCC Chairman Michael Powell.

Tell him you want the FCC to give Howard Stern an exemption from the equal time rule so Stern can interview Scharwzenegger.

Tell him that the equal time rule is doing the opposite of what it should and that it should be revealed.

Tell that that the FCC should not be deciding what we hear — we should. If he believes in a free market in media, then here is how he proves it!

Come on, all you libertarians on weblogs: Stand up for the rights of the people against government meddling. Email Powell. All you Republicans: Let your action here be heard: Email Powell. Democrats, don’t let this happen to Al Franken when he runs for President: Email Powell. Come on, Larry Lessig, if you really believe in freeing media, fight for Stern. Come on, Prof. Balkin, if you believe in the First Amendment, fight for Stern.

: And if you want to email the Stern show, here’s the address.

10 responses to “Stern forced to cancel Schwarzenegger interview”

  1. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    ARGH!!! This is unreal. I’ve been listening for awhile, wondering what happened. Thanks for the sad news Jeff. The double standards here are ridiculous. I wonder how long Arnold will go without having to explain his views.

  2. TDavid Avatar
    TDavid

    I would have thought that Stern would want to give equal time to both Arnold’s (gary coleman and schwarzenegger), as well as the porn star, Gallagher and some of the other interesting candidates.
    He ought to stick it to the FCC by having the others on for the same time and make a media event out of it. He’s great and manipulating a media event.

  3. Jerry in Jersey Avatar
    Jerry in Jersey

    Let the hosts, producers and radio station owners choose whom to cover and whom to ignore and soon you’ll have ClearChannel choose your next Governors, Congressmen and yes Presidents. Get real Jeff!

  4. PhotoDude Avatar
    PhotoDude

    An alternate viewpoint: Terminator 4: Special Dispensation
    http://www.photodude.com/weblog/dumped/2003/August/003088.shtml

  5. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Jerry: You want the government deciding the content of news and who gets interviewed? Get real! Or move to Iran.

  6. Dann Avatar
    Dann

    Jerry,
    That is precisely the problem we have right now. The major media chooses which presidential candidates are going to get full exposure. Currently they cover the Democrat, the Republican, media darling Ralph Nader, and “oddities” like Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot. No serious coverage is given to Libertarian candidates even though the LP has tons of people in local and state offices compared to zero to a handful from the Green Party. No serious coverage is given to principled candidates like Alan Keyes.
    This problem is even worse with lesser offices as only the Democrat and Republican can be assured of “free” airtime/exposure from interviews.
    I buy the “media is driven by the market” argument on most other issues, but in the political arena, the average media bias is decidedly liberal. Anyone that supports real reductions in the size and scope of government just is not covered.
    You be worried about the non-issue of Clear Channel. I’ll be worried about ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NY Times, etc.

  7. PhotoDude Avatar
    PhotoDude

    “ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, NY Times,” and Howard Stern.
    Which of these things is not like the others?

  8. Laertes Avatar
    Laertes

    Where did I get the idea that the “equal time” rule was killed in some round of deregulation or other?

  9. Dann Avatar
    Dann

    Photodude,
    One is a media outlet that trusts viewers to interpret their content and thus lays bare their biases. The rest have the pretentious view that viewers are not smart enough to filter informational sources and attempt (unsuccessfully) to hide their biases.
    Laertes,
    Perhaps from Rush Limbaugh and friends? They periodically go on rants about the FCC and various pieces of legislation that theoretically would require broadcasters to extend equal time to different points of view.
    I’m not sure but there may be some sort of equal time regulation with respect to “candidates” that does not apply to general programming. (i.e. a broadcaster is required to have a broad spectrum of candidates on to be interviewed, but can air non-stop Dr. Laura, Rush, Hannity, etc. throughout the rest of the day.)

  10. JSL Singleton Avatar
    JSL Singleton

    Over-hasty assumption alert! You assume the FCC’s responsible for this. It isn’t.
    The FCC abandoned the “equal time” rule back during the Reagan administration — which is why, for example, Rush Limbaugh doesn’t have to let any opposing viewpoints on his show, nor do the stations broadcasting it have to provide “equal time” for opposing viewpoints after his show.
    The preset rule is not from the FCC at all, nor from any other federal agency. It’s a California state rule, affecting only agencies in that state, and it’s new — just took effect this month (August 2003).
    Please redirect angry comments accordingly.