beingfrugal.net

Happy Hump Day, everyone!  It’s not often that I talk to you all on a Wednesday, thanks to Kyle’s regular feature, which gives me the day off.  But today I have a couple of things to tell you about.

First, Momma at Tales From the Road Less Traveled is running a contest to benefit the Clay Elementary School PTA.   You could win a pre-paid American Express card in the amount of up to $200!  Visit Tales From the Road Less Traveled for more details.

Second, I want to bring an issue in the House of Representatives to your attention.  I don’t like to get political on this blog.  Believe me, I cringed when writing the last few weeks of reviews of (Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents.  But this issue is important to my family, and I think it’s important to you too, so I feel like I have to bring it up.

The issue is the Broadcaster Freedom Act.  The Broadcaster Freedom Act would ensure that broadcasters retain their right to free speech on the American airwaves. There has recently been talk of limiting that right in congress, and the Broadcaster Freedom Act would block that attempt.

The Broadcaster Freedom Act directly impacts my family.  My husband works for a Christian radio station. Without the Broadcaster Freedom Act, it’s hard to imagine what the future of that radio station would be. They could be required to present viewpoints directly in conflict with the Christian faith.  They could also be required to conduct an “Ascertainment of Community Needs,” where they would have to hold community meetings to determine whether the content on the station is appropriate.  And then they would need to file a lot of supporting paperwork in order to renew their broadcast license.

These requirements would no doubt lead to the demise of many small radio stations. Rather than discussing controversial issues, radio stations would just stop broadcasting them, so as not to risk action by the FCC.  Obviously, this act directly impacts my husband’s job, and would impact the jobs of many others throughout the United States.

My other concern is where does the regulation of free speech end? If the freedom of broadcasters is limited, what’s to say the freedom of bloggers will not be limited in the future?  Like a small radio station, if too many restrictions were placed on what I could write, I’d just stop writing. It wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

And it’s sad when issues aren’t discussed, because it’s too much of a hassle to discuss them. Our country’s whole legislative process is centered on discussion, and we shouldn’t limit that discussion in any way, including the freedom of our radio stations to discuss issues that are controversial in the United States.

I love that in this country if you want to start a business, a radio station, or even a blog, you have the freedom to do so.  The market will decide whether or not you are successful.  That’s true of business, that’s true of radio stations, and that’s even true of this blog.  I would never want to see that freedom curtailed.

If you agree that radio station owners, employees, and program hosts should continue to have free speech, please contact your Congressional Representative and urge them to sign the discharge petition to bring the Broadcaster’s Freedom Act (H.R. 2905) up for a vote. Currently the vote is being blocked, but if 23 more congressional representatives sign the petition (as of June 19), the House will be able to vote on the Broadcaster’s Freedom Act.

To see if your representative has signed the petition, click here.

To contact your representative, click here.

Thanks!