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Listeners Ask: Is There Free Speech on Public Radio?
March 17, 2004
By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin
Ombudsman
National Public Radio
A number of listeners have written to me protesting the firing of comedian Sandra Tsing Loh by NPR member station KCRW. She was fired for uttering an obscenity that had been recorded -- but not removed or bleeped -- before airing. Many of the writers have admonished KCRW for firing her and criticized NPR for not weighing in on the issue.
On March 15, KCRW reversed its decision. General Manager Ruth Seymour said that she "regret(s) having jumped to conclusions about what happened and for erroneously accusing Sandra of an intentional breach of our broadcast standards."
Seymour invited Loh to return to the station and to her program, but Loh declined, saying, "I personally don't think I could be comfortable working there anymore."
For some people in the public radio community, it's case closed.
But the issue raised at KCRW has implications for the entire public radio system -- including NPR.
Of course, it is a more complicated -- and a more straightforward -- issue at the same time.
The decision to hire and to fire Tsing Loh, as with any station employee, is made locally by station management -- not by NPR.
For the record, NPR has no authority to intervene at the local level. NPR's role is to be a significant provider of programming. The stations may purchase these programs and broadcast them in a way and at a time when station management thinks best serves its listeners.
That may be a difference without a distinction for many listeners who feel that a public radio station and NPR are ethically -- if not managerially -- one and the same.
A Public Radio Attitude: 'Don't Get Involved?'
But there is another issue that listeners have raised. Specifically, does public radio endorse the principle of free speech, or does it just pay lip service to the First Amendment at a time of increasing pressure on freedom of speech?
Public radio obviously does not and should not exist in isolation from the tensions and debates in our society. Free speech is an important value for the public radio community. But very few people in the public radio community spoke up in support of Loh.
Quite the contrary.
Some inside that community told me that to support Loh openly might imply that public radio must also support other less acceptable forms of broadcast free speech, including Bubba the Love Sponge and Howard Stern.
Others have mentioned it might be embarrassing for public radio to play an unduly prominent role in this issue, especially in an election year.
Still others hesitate to comment in public over what should be a private matter between station management and its now ex-employee.
Nervous Public Radio?
Nervous public radio types can take comfort in the fact that the FCC has ruled that while all speech may be free, it may not have equal value.
About a year ago, the FCC reversed itself in a case involving Sarah Jones, a performance artist. I am grateful to my 18-year old son Eli who was good enough to point out this case to me when I mentioned the barrage of angry e-mails I was getting.
Sarah Jones and 'Your Revolution'
In 2000, public radio station KBOO in Portland, Ore. played a song by Jones called "Your Revolution." The lyrics were explicit and complaints were filed with the FCC. The FCC ruled that the song contained "patently offensive sexual references" that violated the commission's rules against airing indecent material. The FCC fined KBOO $7,000 and banned "Your Revolution" from further airplay.
Jones appealed the decision, and in February 2003 the FCC changed its position after hearing from her lawyer. Jones' lawyers argued: "'Your Revolution' used the hip-hop vehicle... because she believes it is a beautiful and creative art form. She believes that the appropriate response to the objectionable and disturbing elements in hip-hop is not to walk away from the art form, but to answer back with something more sophisticated and meaningful."
David Solomon, the FCC's enforcement bureau chief, agreed. He ruled that the lyrics "were not sufficiently graphic" to deserve any kind of sanction.
'Context Matters'
This is why the ruling is important for the Loh case: Solomon ruled that context does matter.
Jones' lyrics were for and about young women who should not allow themselves to used as sexual playthings by misogynistic rappers against whom the song was directed.
The lyrics state, among other things, "your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The song also denounces unwanted pregnancies, abuse of women and support for sexual intimacy as an expression of love and commitment.
Music critics who spoke on behalf of Jones testified that when she performed this song before audiences of high school girls, the young women were "spellbound." High school girls appeared to connect with this song in a way that the people who complained to the FCC could not.
From Sarah Jones to Sandra Tsing Loh
Loh's dismissal from KCRW could be seen in this light: More free speech is better than less. But the specific word said on the air (offensive to some), has to be seen in the context of what else Loh has said, just as Howard Stern's attempts to push the boundaries of what is acceptable should be viewed in the context of all his broadcast messages.
For many who wrote me to support her, Loh is an accurate social critic who uses humor in concerts and on public radio to illustrate the status of women and minorities; Stern uses vulgarity and misogyny to extend the range of free speech while in the employ of a large media company.
In my opinion, the choice for public radio looks pretty clear: Loh's spoken word exists within the context of public radio in a way that Howard Stern does not, because his speech exists entirely in a commercial radio context.
Both are expressions of free speech that need to be supported, but possibly in different ways and with different consequences for civic discourse.
Public radio in general always prides itself on providing context. It needs to do so again by supporting the principle of free speech on public radio. Seymour did the right thing by reversing herself and asking Loh to come back to KCRW.
One way to demonstrate its commitment to free speech would be for public radio to hear from Loh and others who may have uncomfortable ideas on other stations and on other programs.
Where is NPR?
Why has NPR not reported this story? So far, nothing has aired on any of the news magazine programs. Only Marketplace (a public radio program not produced by NPR) has aired a report on the controversy (granted, only presenting Loh's side of the story). NPR, in my opinion, owes it to its listeners to take a look at this story, even though it may be uncomfortable to some in the public radio community.
Public radio in general -- and NPR in particular -- has seemed less than eager to report on itself whenever we become the legitimate subject of news reports in other places. We appear too squeamish, as if self-examination and scrutiny are akin to self-promotion.
Get over it, NPR. Let's allow the listeners in on this important discussion... and thanks, Eli.
Listeners may contact me at 202-513-3245 or at
ombudsman@npr.org.
Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman
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