Re: Jackass,Viacom&CBS

["Bill O'Neill" <billo@shoreham.net>]

> Bob, you know my answer: the market sets the standards.  There are
lots of
> things that broadcasters could do that would draw an audience that
they
> don't do because of the negative backlash would result.
>
> -- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine

Given the privilege of operating on one of the very few available
signals open to all, broadcasters SHOULD respect that privilege.  But
they DON'T on an increasing level, in sync and in proportion with the
courts' and FCC's walking off of the job.  And just who should arbitor
that point?  The marketplace?

It's not that the market is too stupid for the job, but it would be in
direct conflict to their mission: profit.  Not a bad thing, just a
conflict of interest with a major demo: youth.  It's about who's
buying.  A tobacco merchant CAN limit access, by law, to customers
within the legal range.  Broadcasters can not.  They are blind to who
the actual customer is, aside from what ratings tell them. What's more
disturbing is what those ratings, in fact, reveal: more TV is being
shopped to advertisers seeking the teen audience by spot placement
while the subject matter is ten years out of sync with who is actually
targeted.

Bill O'Neill