Running an ad on Instapundit called God is Still Speaking: The Ad the Networks Don't Want You to See, the United Church of Christ invites sympathetic Internet users to "click here" and sign onto a petition and complaint to the FCC, the ultimate purpose being to "to register an Informal Objection to the renewal of broadcast licenses for CBS station WFOR-TV (BRCT-20041001AJQ) and NBC station WTVJ-TV (BRCT-20041001 ABM) for failing to operate in the public interest."
There's no real risk of these stations not getting their licenses renewed. But the pre-written email they want you to fill in and click-send to the FCC says, "The Federal Communications Commission's own rules clearly state that it gives free access to the public's airwaves to individual stations only when "the station has served the public interest, convenience and necessity. . . . Refusing to air 'controversial' messages from paid advertisers that do not fit within a narrow religious agenda and include messages of inclusion clearly does not serve the 'public interest.'"
Gosh, this is silly. But it's part of the game that will continue to be played as long as we maintain the fiction that broadcast television and radio are part of the "ether" that is owned by the "people," which makes them obviously subject to government control in a way that newsprint and shiny magazine paper isn't and that blogs may or may not be soon. At least they didn't cry "censorship"!
UPDATE: Beldar says, "Bring 'em on!"
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