Evening star., 1939-03-01
Radio Censorship
Issue Widening
&c. {. Breach
Craven Insists Minority
Report on Procedure
Be Made Public
By WILLIAM J. WHEATLEY.

A further breach in the Federal
Communications Commission has
developed over the manner of ham
ding complaints against broadcast
ing stations. The differences over
policy were forced into the limelight
Yesterday when Commissioner T. A.
M. Craven insisted that the F. G. C..
make available to the public both
the majority and minority texts Of
reports recommending commission
procedure.
The commission merely set down
procedure for handling complaints
by the law department and provided
that regular licenses of stations will
be renewed even though they might
be under investigation. Heretofore.
stations have been granted tempo
rary licenses. Commissioner Craven
holds that a policy for handling
complaints by the commission should
have been set.
In order to avoid being charged
with censorship, which the F.. c. G.
Is prohibited by law from exercising,
Mr.. Craven said the commission
should not act on individual COM
plants, but should consider the
whole program structure of station
over a period. Exercise of authority
over individual complaints, he con-
tended, would place the commission
in the light of directing program
service
Censorship Forbidden.
Almost simultaneously with the
publication of the minority report,
the National Association of Broad
casters issued a statement con-
corning the pending communications
legislation in which it said there
must be no censorship of programs. :"
Commissioner Craven contends the
commission failed to meet the CEN
sorship problem in merely laying
down a procedure for the law de-
partment to follow in examining
individual complaints. The broad
casters pointed out that Congress
has expressly forbidden censorship
of radio programs and has under
taken to guarantee to the American
people the right to be the final
arbiters of what they shall hear.
The two reports were prepared by
committee appointed some months
ago to outline procedure for COM
plants. This committee consisted
of Commissioners Eugene o. Sykes
George Henry Payne and Craven.
Their publication forced into the
open charges that control over the
substance Of broadcasts is being ex-
ercised by the F. C. C. through the
siX-month license system, renewal
hearings when complaints are made,
and the reprimanding and ad-
monishing of stations for occasional
programs which do not meet with
approval of commissioners.
Death Grip on Stations.
This practice, Mr.. Craven con-
tended, has given the broadcasters
a bad case of jitters because of the
constant fear of having their licenses
put in jeopardy due to a single pro-
gram. The individual program COM
plant investigation system, as now
laid down, Mr.. Craven asserted
gives the commission a death grip
on all stations.
Under the approved procedure, no
publicity is to be given complaints
against stations until such time as
they are investigated by the law de-
partment and a determination
reached as to whether hearings are
to be held. Then the facts and the
reasons for designating the matter
for hearing will be given.
Commissioner Craven contended
IN his report the commission did not
go far enough in that it outlined law
department procedure only. and did
not lay down a policy for the COM
mission which would give the broad
casters some idea of how they were
to be Judged. He argued that it was
important for the commission to
determine on a system which would
avoid charges of censorship, and, for
that reason, the whole program
structure of a station over a long
period, rather than isolated cases
should be considered He said the
commission should exercise it's power
sparingly.
Mr.. Craven added that it is also
important that the commission, in
dealing with program service. does
not run counter to the guarantee
of free speech and the prohibition
against censorship. He pointed out
that broadcasting has largely re-
placed the public platform of former
days as the forum of discussion of
Issues of public interest, and, IF the
constitutional guarantee of free
speech is to have any real meaning,
1t must extend to utterances before
the microphone
The National Association of
Broadcasters contended it is not
possible by legislative fiat to estab-
lish taste or standards in programs.