ABSTRACT
The media claims to be the defender of the First Amendment, but it has long since lost touch with any First Amendment reality. "If it is so offensive, then speaker don't need to see it or listen to it, media executives pronounce, in reply to protests over their offensive products. But in a media-drenched society, this reply is a little like telling people protesting river pollution that they don't need to drink the water. Under the marketplace model, the First Amendment free speech guaranty has become a shield for the often libertine behaviour of the modern media. Any government inquiry or any public outrage is answered with a self-righteous recitation of America's most famous constitutional provision. When a radio network dropped the Howard Stem show after being hit with a hefty fine for Stern's indecent language, Hollywood complained that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) actions were sending shock-waves through the industry.
