ABSTRACT
Marketplace argument became the foundation from which sprang the free speech revolution of the 1960s. Advocates of defense of unrestricted speech freedoms have difficulty in explaining why violent video games and television dating shows, none of which have much to do with political deliberation or self-governance, should be protected by the First Amendment. Commercial entertainment speech has availed itself of all those First Amendment doctrines developed to protect the inclusion of dissident voices in the nation's political discourse. Cable television, the Internet, and video games are all expanding the reach and depths of the media cesspool exponentially. Television programming has become so violent since the 1970s that no serious researcher disputes the notion that overexposure to television violence can help transform children into violent adults. It is almost as if the information age and media explosion has had the reverse effect, undermining democratic involvement and making individuals feel more powerless and more disconnected in the modern media world.
