Public service radio is said to be an outlet that delivers messages to the public. My question is who decides what messages are important to get out? Who controls what is said and what is kept quiet? The FCC has primary control over the airways which includes radio. Therefore ultimately the control is in their hands. Despite this fact it is called public radio; therefore the public obviously have to have some sort of input. To get a better grasp on the subject I interviewed Jeremy Millner who did a post on Public Service Radio. His post discussed PSA’s and advertisements, their differences and how public radio affects its audience. His post showed his opinion on advertising and how they are not as important as public service announcements which are messages about important issues, programs, and events that have significant relevance to the public. The two following audio clips show his opinion on commercials and how they differ from PSA’s.
He also touched on the “brainwashing effect” which leads me back to the question of who has control. During times of war and tension the government often tries to sway the public in a certain direction. In instances like this the FCC has been known to play messages that do have a “brainwashing effect” which means they make the public feel and act a certain way through persuasive messages.
Brainwashing occurs everyday and there are elements of persuasion within almost all communication. However when is this taken too far? Also, is it safe to say that the FCC and government in general take advantage of media outlet by promoting their own agenda? Jeremy provided me with input on this matter by discussing the basic idea of the brain washing effect in the following audio clip.
Lastly, the main question I was interested in getting perspective on was who has ultimate control over what is aired. In my opinion I do think that the FCC has complete control, but at the same time the public can submit PSA’s whenever they want and ultimately that is the material that is used. Clearly the public has a say, but I think that there are still cases of governmental control that are unfair, because when it comes down to it is the FCC that sifts through the PSA’s and decided which ones are going to enter the airways. The following website gives a very detailed description of what exactly a PSA is and how it "promotes programs, activities or services of the federal, state or local governments" http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=publicservic Jeremy explained that both have input, but it is the FCC who has the final word. His response can be accessed in the following audio clip.
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