79-10-B4
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Free Speech for Business?[edit]
Transcript[edit]Recently, a major corporation produced three messages for television, drawing attention to three issues it felt were of major concern to the people of America. I'd like to read you the scripts for these messages. The first dealt with free enterprise and the voice over the picture said, "Is free enterprise an endangered species? How much government regulation is enough? Is business bad just because it's big? Or does a country like ours require a diversity of business -- both big and small? Will excessive control over big business lead to control over all business? The answers are up to you. Whatever your views let your elected representatives know. People, one by one, need to speak up now. You can help keep free enterprise free." Then followed the corporation's sign-off with a tag line added, "One person can make a difference." The second commercial had to do with energy. The announcer's voice delivered this message: "Some people are calling the energy crisis a hoax. Others say that at the rate we're using up our oil reserves we'll be down to our last drop in our children's lifetime. Whoever is right, one thing is clear. America needs an energy plan for the future now. One that uses all resources available from coal and nuclear power to solar. But we're only going to get it if people, one by one, demand it. Whatever your views, let your elected representatives know now. There's not much we can do when the light goes out." Now if you are wondering why I am reading these TV messages I'll explain right after this third and last one. It has to do with government red tape and opens with several voices overlapping, speaking the following lines: "Applications should be filled out in triplicate. Forms should be returned by the 19th or penalty charges. The Bureau requires all permits to. The Department must be notified. Send one copy to." Then the announcer's voice says, "It's red tape. In 1977 America spent $100 billion on federal paperwork alone. And in the end we all pay for it. But if people, one by one, start speaking out, we can begin untangling America's knottiest problem. A message from Kaiser Aluminum. One person can make a difference." Yes, the corporation offering these messages was Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation. They submitted these to the three TV networks as commercials for which the corporation was, of course, willing to pay. The networks refused to air them. The networks said they were "controversial." One network cited the "Fairness doctrine", the FCC's requirement that a fair balance of opinion be presented on television. We're all agreed on that, but for the life of me I find no threat to such a balance in the messages I've just read and which Kaiser was going to present as paid commercials. Well to quote form the second message if you think someone's right of free speech was denied by the networks, "let your elected representatives know now." This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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