Re:Re:Sketchy underwriting on WBUR

["Aaron 'Bishop' Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 05:36 PM 5/19/2002, tklaundry@juno.com wrote:
>Me thinks your dislike for all things Jane is getting the better of you.
>(snip)
>Perhaps you heard a web promo that urged listeners to take some action, 
>but then that's a WBUR promo not a funder.  So which funder got you so 
>upset on your otherwise pleasant commute on Friday morning?
>df

If I disliked "All Things Jane"  (is that Robert Siegel's new show? 
:-)  then I wouldn't be listening, would I?  No - this was sparked by a 
recent discussion among me and my engineer friends about how hard 
non-comm's are pushing the "underwriting line".  The next day I was 
listening with a critical ear...instead of tuning out like I normally do 
:-) ...and I thought those underwriting spots sounded fishy.

I think both our interpretations of the statements made are equally valid, 
it all boils down to whether or not a statement of fact is, inherently, 
also a value-positive/value-negative statement because of the connotation 
of the statement.  To put it another way, is a cigar just a cigar?

Taken straight from the FCC's website:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/nature.html#ENHANCED
It was our view that "enhanced underwriting" would offer significant 
potential benefits to public broadcasting in terms of attracting additional 
business support and would thereby improve the financial self-sufficiency 
of the service without threatening its underlying noncommercial nature. In 
this regard, we emphasized that such announcements could not include 
qualitative or comparative language and that the Order should not be 
construed as allowing advertisements as defined in Section 399B of the 
Communications Act.

Note the last sentence there...esp. the part about "no qualitative 
language."  If one were a strict-interpretationalist, then my view that 
those statements were *not* value-neutral would seem to be the most 
valid.  Of course, once again we're talking a pretty big "if" here.


______________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read       aread@speakeasy.net
Fried Bagels Consulting   www.friedbagels.com
34 Kirkwood Rd. / Boston, MA / 02135 (as of 6/1/02)