The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has written an editorial asking local residents to call FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and pressure him to get Bob Romanik off KZQZ-AM. Romanik hosts a show and is a candidate for the Illinois Statehouse. The paper says what he’s saying about his opponent on the air is hate speech and has no place on the public airwaves.
The paper is reporting that Romanik referred repeatedly to County Board Chairman Mark Kern as a cross-dresser and “faggot.” The editorial board says when Romanik found out about the editorial he called them and began “shouting the worst kinds of unprintable homophobic slurs.” They write that “what Romanik says on the phone is one thing. Over the public airwaves, during the daytime when children could be listening, is an entirely different matter, which is why the FCC should investigate.”
The paper says listeners must not allow this abuse of the public airwaves to stand. “The Federal Communications Commission needs to hear from anyone who believes Romanik’s hate speech deserves sanction.” Then the paper listed the FCC telephone number and Tom Wheeler’s e-mail address.
The language gets a lot worse when a complainer calls the radio station. If you want to read about that, check out the story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch HERE. The radio station bills itself as The First Amendment Station.
Picture courtesy St Louis Post-Dispatch
Uh Tom Taggert, the conservatives scrapped the Fairness Doctrine YEARS ago, which is what you’re talking about with equal time. Doesn’t exist anymore, thanks to the GOP.
Disingenuous headline. Typical. The newspaper is just voicing a larger community concern. When you have a convicted felon, pimp, strip club owner owning a radio station, where he uses the N-word like other people use conjunctions when speaking, he really is inciting community violence and he should be removed from the airwaves.
Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine. A pillar of the 1st Amendment.
Morons, like water, tend to find their own level.
All is well – sorta.
The powers of government were spelled out in the US Constitution by men of power to limit that power…to make a government system that was relatively impervious to the failings of human nature.
If that is the framework then capitalism and relatively open markets are the engine. So, if you want to shut-down hate speech- stop listening and boycott sponsors. Do not dare to ask the government to selectively restrict the 1st amendment….because YOU may be SELECTED next! We keep asking the government to handle our lives for convenience because personal responsibility is inconvenient. Freedom is NOT convenient. Let the jackasses stand out by being better, and shut them down in the marketplace.
As a candidate, this is a “use” of the airtime by Romanik. So his opponent is entitled to demand equivalent time on the station. Had Romanik bought the time, the station would not be allowed to censor his speech.
The Post Dispatch can jump up and down all it wants, but the First Amendment and the FCC’s political broadcast laws are on his side. May not get him elected, though.