Paul Lotsof owns CAVE-FM in Benson, Arizona. The topic under investigation is making some people in that market angry. For two years Lotsof has been airing PSA’s that, according to KVOA-TV, urge people to hide their child pornography. Lotsof disagrees with Arizona’s laws on child pornography and he’s been airing the PSA’s because he wants the laws changed. And now the station is under investigation by the local authorities.
Sexual Exploitation of a Minor is a felony punishable by up to 24 years in prison per violation in Arizona. The TV station printed an excerpt from the PSA: “Never keep paper pictures, tapes or films of naked juveniles where anyone else can find them. A public service message from the CAVE 97.7 FM.”
On Tuesday Lotsoff told Radio Ink the PSA was on the air for about two years, mostly late at night. “I got very little feedback on it. “A few days ago someone put it on Facebook and suddenly all hell has broken loose. I have yet to figure out why this is such a big deal.” We sent Lotsoff these two questions, which he did not respond to: Why do you think its important to run this PSA? What are your thoughts on people who do possess these types of photos?
Lotsof told the Arizona TV station that there’s a difference between distribution and creation of child porn and possession. “The difference is one case, you’re molesting children and abusing them, causing children to do things that are not natural for children to do and the other case, they’re just possessing pictures. There’s no connection between those two.”
AZ.com reported last night that the radio station is now under investigation. The Sheriff’s office told the newspaper that, “It’s very disturbing to have that type of message go out from a media organization that in essence is providing instruction on how to break a law, specifically something as heinous as any type of child porn. You shouldn’t have someone advising you, ‘If you’re gonna do this, this is how to get away with it.'”
Sheriff Mark Dannels made this statement in the release: “This is very disturbing to know that a member of our local media, who should be one of the responsible groups of people to provide factual information to our public to keep them safe, is promoting and encouraging criminal behavior. This is a disgusting and unacceptable public service announcement and this type of propaganda encourages evil behavior. Freedom of speech does not include telling people to commit crimes and continuing to pass on this information could lead to judicial action being taken. The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office is now aware of this activity and will continue to seek legal advice on actions that can be taken for the content that has already been released and to ensure this kind of information in not released again.”
There’s “no connection” between possessing pictures of someone who is “molesting children and abusing them, causing children to do things that are not natural for children to do”?!? Really?!?
If someone possesses child pornography, that could be a danger sign that, if someone finds such pictures arousing, that they might be wanting to engage in that behavior. That’s definitely not OK in any book.