Re: Primary aftermath

[Dave Faneuf <tklaundry@juno.com>]

On Thu, 19 Sep 2002 14:57:14 -0400 "Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@suscom.net>
writes:
> Dave F. writes:
> > I was driving home after our primary coverage Tuesday night 
> (Wednesday
> > morning) and had BZ on.  A woman called in obviously talking about 
> the
> > primary and discribed Mitt Romney as that "Morman baby killer" and 
> WBZ
> > didn't bleep it out. (not that they use beeps any more).  Steve 
> ignored
> > the comment but I was shocked that they didn't beep it or take her 
> off
> > the air.  Anyone else cathc that?  Comments?
> 
> What exactly are stations' standards for this sort of stuff in 
> current
> times?
> 
> Is it just a matter of slander? Then again, to me that comment seems 
> like it
> could be fodder for a slander lawsuit (then again, the legal eagles 
> in here
> would know far better).
> 
> Not surprisingly, I seem to hear more and more of the seven dirty 
> words on
> TV and radio nowadays and people saying "oops" instead of a delay 
> button
> actually being hit.
> 
I don't know what the "stations" standards are, I just know that I found
it very offensive, and I'm not Mormon.  I do know that back in the days
when I was filling in at BZ when Diane Stern had her baby I was working
with David Brudnoy and someone called in questioning his sexual
orientation in strong language and David told the tech, on the air, to
not bleep it and the then proceeded to get into a discussion about hate
or some related topic.  Apparently times have changed for the worse.  I
see absolutely no need for that to be allowed on what are still arguably
public airwaves in the context they were used.
df