FREE SPEECH NOT SO PROTECTED IN THE USA EITHER

"Progressives, libertarians, and all who take the First Amendment to heart may be holding their noses these days -- and covering their ears. For the latest challenge to free speech targets a lowbrow radio personality who traffics in banal sexuality, physical oddities, racial stereotypes, and pathetic ignorance. He thinks such sideshow subject matter is fascinating. So do millions of his listeners. There is no accounting for taste. But Howard Stern has made several fortunes by keeping his mind -- and mouth -- in the electronic gutter. Last spring, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) levied a landmark obscenity fine against Stern's radio raunch -- almost $500,000 against Clear Channel Communications, which has dropped Stern's show in six markets -- and almost $30,000 against Stern's distributor, Infinity Broadcasting. These are awful, lamentable developments -- despite Stern's lack of charm or wit."

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