Abstract
Introduction 3 I. The Mythology of Television Broadcasters as Public Trustees 10 A. The Origins of American Broadcast Regulation 10 1. The Growing Cacophony 13 B. Congressional Codification of Broadcast Public Trusteeship 14 1. The 1927 Radio Act 14 2. The 1934 Communications Act 16 C. Early Attempts to Interpret the Public Interest Standard 18 1. The “Blue Book” 20 2. The 1960 Programming Statement 22 3. FCC Reluctance to Enforce the 1960 Statement....... 24 4. The Codification of the Fairness Doctrine 26 D. Deregulation and the De Facto Death of the Public Trustee Doctrine 27 1. 1996 Telecom Act 31 E. Very Little Quid for Lots of Quo: Broadcasters’ Compliance with the Surviving Public Interest Requirements 32 1. Locally Responsive Programming 33 2. Political Broadcasting 37 3. Children’s Educational Programming 38 4. Obscenity and Indecency 39