Michigan court says talking penis on TV is indecent
DETROIT (Reuters) - A Michigan court apparently has ended the television career of a talking penis.
A three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals declared that the talking penis, nicknamed Dick Smart, telling "purportedly humorous" jokes on a Grand Rapids, Michigan, public access cable television channel constituted indecent exposure.
The court let stand a one-day jail sentence already served by the show's creator, Timothy Huffman.
Wednesday's ruling contained a transcript of the three-minute segment that aired twice in 2000, including the voice-over lines delivered in the style of the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield "Hi, I'm Dick Smart. I am a comedian, yeah, stand up, ha."
Huffman could not immediately be reached for comment but he told the Detroit Free Press newspaper he planned to appeal in defence of his right to free speech.
Why pick on this one? there are plenty of talking dicks on tv everyday .....once more our rights of free speech are being eroded
How come y'all up in MI never mentioned you had this kind of quality broadcasting?
/would seriously pay money to see a talking weiner.
//if he put glasses on it did it look like Groucho Marx?
/would seriously pay money to see a talking weiner.
?
They could screen it in the afternoon and play ..
"sexe qui parle,le" in the evening . :D :D :D
How come y'all up in MI never mentioned you had this kind of quality broadcasting?
I sent the cable company packing a couple of years ago. No public access on dish.
Rather unsporting that, wouldn't you say?
/First Amendment and all that.
//Got to give the loonies a voice.
///don't have to listen.
////would watch talking genitals though.
/slash whore
Its not simply a free speech issue.
It's fair enough to say that you can just turn it off, which as an adult is true, however I'm not so sure I'd want my two year old watching this, and I certainly wouldn't want them watching some of the casual violence that is broadcast at all hours.
Kids ape this stuff (the violence rather than the wiener waving) and have an unfortunate habit of learning how to operate the TV at an early age. As we've learned, even in a small apartment with near constant supervision, you can't control everything they watch.
I am a huge fan of public access TV (the concept, not necessarily the content). When I was at law school I actually had an extended discussion/argument with the then general counsel of Time Warner Cable. He was moaning about how the need to carry public access used up spectrum and was all useless nonsense anyway. I disagreed because (a) it's not true, its just that spectrum is a huge, highly political mess, and (b) there are loads of public access shows that serve a true community need (my example at the time was the Sunday morning show in Haitian French directed towards new Haitian immigrants).
On a side note, in addition to valuable community shows, there were some great, silly, shows at the time on NY public access. A few examples
"Light Fuse, Get Away" -- just video images of explosions and lots of rock music. Tremendous fun.
"Hundscheisse" -- a very silly, mock artsy documentary of a couple of guys with a video camera tracking down dog poop all over the world (which actually made for a great personal travelogue of their trips around the world).
"Driveways of the Rich and Famous" -- exactly what it sounds like. Wonderfully silly.
"The Piercing Show" -- video of people getting pierced in some incredibly scary places. The Michigan court would have had a field day with that one.
How did public access originate?
The Federal Cable and Telecommunications Acts of 1984, 1992 and 1996 permit and encourage local governments to require local cable operators to provide equipment, facilities, and channel space for public, educational and government access (known as "PEG access") on local cable systems as compensation for the cable companies' use of local rights-of-way (laying their cable through publicly-owned city streets).
Most often, the two primary funding sources for access services come from the cable company and the City. This is provided through a combination of City-negotiated franchise-required cable company support, in the form of grants and cable fee pass-throughs, as well as City support through franchise fees revenue or general fund monies.
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Who does it serve?
Public access consists of video programming and other electronic information produced, directed, and engineered by community volunteers. Public access serves a wide range of individuals and community-based non-profit organizations. It serves the entire local community, including children, minorities, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, immigrants, artists, philosophers, educators, and others who are otherwise unrepresented or underrepresented in the mainstream commercial media. Organizations served include churches and synagogues, social services and clubs, local political party organizations, neighborhood schools and regional colleges, neighborhood and citizen special interest groups, and community cultural and economic development groups, among other mainstream media marginalized communities (the vast majority of public service organizations do not have the resources, tools, or staff needed to fully utilize the electronic media -- the largest disseminator of information in the 90's.)
programming focuses on many aspects of community life, ranging from the services and activities of community organizations to the opinions and beliefs of individuals in the community.
How did public access originate?
The Federal Cable and Telecommunications Acts of 1984, 1992 and 1996 permit and encourage local governments to require local cable operators to provide equipment, facilities, and channel space for public, educational and government access (known as "PEG access") on local cable systems as compensation for the cable companies' use of local rights-of-way (laying their cable through publicly-owned city streets).
Most often, the two primary funding sources for access services come from the cable company and the City. This is provided through a combination of City-negotiated franchise-required cable company support, in the form of grants and cable fee pass-throughs, as well as City support through franchise fees revenue or general fund monies.
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Who does it serve?
Public access consists of video programming and other electronic information produced, directed, and engineered by community volunteers. Public access serves a wide range of individuals and community-based non-profit organizations. It serves the entire local community, including children, minorities, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, immigrants, artists, philosophers, educators, and others who are otherwise unrepresented or underrepresented in the mainstream commercial media. Organizations served include churches and synagogues, social services and clubs, local political party organizations, neighborhood schools and regional colleges, neighborhood and citizen special interest groups, and community cultural and economic development groups, among other mainstream media marginalized communities (the vast majority of public service organizations do not have the resources, tools, or staff needed to fully utilize the electronic media -- the largest disseminator of information in the 90's.)
programming focuses on many aspects of community life, ranging from the services and activities of community organizations to the opinions and beliefs of individuals in the community. Because public access is a First Amendment free-speech venue, the content of the material carried on public access is determined by the individuals, groups, and organizations that produce it.
......Public access program content is not determined, censored, nor in any other way controlled by the staff and management of the center. ....
Furthermore, public access is typically noncommercial in that there are no commercial advertising spot, "infomercials," nor other fundraising run on the channel. The content of public access is not determined by what will appeal to the broadest audience possible for the purpose of selling soap, but is determined by local volunteer community producers, and their specific interests and issues (both individual and organizational), unique to the local communities and individuals the choose to target.
The goal is to create a sort of electronic town square where everyone can be a provider as well as a recipient of information, and where everyone can participate in public debate electronically. Cable companies often argue that access channels do not get ratings the way ESPN gets ratings. That misses the point of the public access channels. Public access channels are meant to allow an electronic community dialogue and an exchange of important local information. There may be a limited number of people interested in any particular dialogue, but the availability of the channels means that there is an opportunity for voices to be heard. As a result, a very typical pattern for a well-supported access channel is that relatively few people will be watching at any particular time, but that over a period of time, a large number of people will tune in to the channel.
Public access programmers can target programming to reach particular and specific segments of the community that need help. For example, one of the problems confronted by social service agencies is outreach a shelter for battered women may wish to produce an access program about its services, and finds this to be a more efficient way to reach the public than available alternatives. From a community's standpoint, the issue is not "will this attract the same number of viewers that watch HBO," but is instead "will this allow members of the community to work together more effectively."
The Alliance for Community Media (a resources advocacy organization for PEG access nationwide) reports that through PEG access centers, thousands of community groups and over one million individuals produce more than 20,000 hours of new local programming each week -- more than all programs produced by NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and PBS combined. There are over 1,000 organizations which provide PEG access services, including local governments, high schools, colleges, and independent non-profit organizations.
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How are services provided?
The City-designated public access management organization's purpose is to administer, coordinate, and assist those requesting access on a non-discriminatory basis. This is done through providing a video production facility and equipment that is available for public use at low or no cost. The center also teaches media literacy and video production; provides for the playback/cablecasting of programs; provides regular maintenance and repair of all equipment; develops and manages a pool of volunteers who create community-based programs and assist others wishing assistance; and actively promotes the use and benefits of the access channel and facilities to subscribers, the public, access users, and community groups. Special attention is directed toward outreaching to and supporting those neighborhood and community groups and individuals who are largely unrepresented in other media.
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Furthermore, public access is typically noncommercial in that there are no commercial advertising spot, "infomercials," nor other fundraising run on the channel. The content of public access is not determined by what will appeal to the broadest audience possible for the purpose of selling soap, but is determined by local volunteer community producers, and their specific interests and issues (both individual and organizational), unique to the local communities and individuals the choose to target.
The goal is to create a sort of electronic town square where everyone can be a provider as well as a recipient of information, and where everyone can participate in public debate electronically. Cable companies often argue that access channels do not get ratings the way ESPN gets ratings. That misses the point of the public access channels. Public access channels are meant to allow an electronic community dialogue and an exchange of important local information. There may be a limited number of people interested in any particular dialogue, but the availability of the channels means that there is an opportunity for voices to be heard. As a result, a very typical pattern for a well-supported access channel is that relatively few people will be watching at any particular time, but that over a period of time, a large number of people will tune in to the channel.
Public access programmers can target programming to reach particular and specific segments of the community that need help. For example, one of the problems confronted by social service agencies is outreach a shelter for battered women may wish to produce an access program about its services, and finds this to be a more efficient way to reach the public than available alternatives. From a community's standpoint, the issue is not "will this attract the same number of viewers that watch HBO," but is instead "will this allow members of the community to work together more effectively."
The Alliance for Community Media (a resources advocacy organization for PEG access nationwide) reports that through PEG access centers, thousands of community groups and over one million individuals produce more than 20,000 hours of new local programming each week -- more than all programs produced by NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and PBS combined. There are over 1,000 organizations which provide PEG access services, including local governments, high schools, colleges, and independent non-profit organizations.
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this certainly is a breach of the first admendment as public access channels where clearly designed to have no govt or mangement interferance .
the program in question a satirical short item that used a kind of cartoon penis to tell jokes was on a few minutes once/twice a week surly those who desire this kind of programming are just as entitled to there small amount of air time on public airwaves as other groups who cannot find the type of programming they wish on regular tv ???
As far kids not seeing it wether the perant is in attendance or not .
all tv systems *unless you have a tv from the dark ages * have a way to block unwanted programing by blocking that programe /or that time frame , or just be eliminating the channel completly .
no excuse for censoring /banning access to certain material even thou it may have a limited following and you may find it offensive for your children to see .... there are programes 7 /24 that cater for kids, direct there attention to them
see above ..
PUBLIC ACCESS PROGRAMING IS NOT IS NOT IN ANY WAY DETERMINED CENSORED IN IN ANY WAY CONTROLLED BY THE MANAGEMENT .
trust the govt to step over that piece of legaslature and spend public money and time to outlaw *IMO a harmless piece of naughty fun * where will it end ??
first the accidental exposed boob at the superdowl , then howard stern, now a harmless talking prick .
IT MAY BE U NEXT beware .
meanwhile the worlds problems continue to mount up .......
end of rant
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Cable companies want everyone to forget why public access was granted - this must never be allowed. John's cut&paste above reminds us how it came about.
There needs to be more public access on terrestrial (regular) TV. Believe it or not, the American public owns the airwaves and not the TV companies or the FCC who manage it on their behalf.
For literally pennies, the TV companies more or less took control and do not pay the owners rent for the frequencies they use.
As far kids not seeing it wether the perant is in attendance or not .
all tv systems *unless you have a tv from the dark ages * have a way to block unwanted programing by blocking that programe /or that time frame , or just be eliminating the channel completly .
no excuse for censoring /banning access to certain material even thou it may have a limited following and you may find it offensive for your children to see .... there are programes 7 /24 that cater for kids, direct there attention to them
Actually John, out TV isn't from the dark ages, but we don't have a means to stop certain channels.
As I said, I don't have a particular problem with the talking genitalia and I'm certainly not advocating the demise of Public Access (although itis total crap where we are - all fuzzy pictures of council meetings).
I also agree with what you and Pilgrim say about ownership of the airwaves.
However, my experience with little wonder is that even small children emulate what they see on TV. LW does a very convincing impression of Thomas the Tank Engine ("cinders and ashes!!!"). We keep some control over what LW watches, actually LW watches very little as neither of us watch much TV either - but it is no great leap to realize that kids watching TV will act out what they see and if they watch something inappropriate they will behave inappropriately.
My personal concern is violence, which seem to be standard fare on TV, particularly cable, which I suspect has an increasing influence on the levels of agreesion we see in our society and also on the the level of violence some expect our leaders to inflict on others.
There needs to be more public access on terrestrial (regular) TV. Believe it or not, the American public owns the airwaves and not the TV companies or the FCC who manage it on their behalf.
Exactly the powers to be want more and more control of our private lives soon we will all be just another number thinking and acting the same .
iIask those who want to * BAN* something they dont like to grant me the same privelidge to *BAN* samething i dont like and see what we end up i would think a society full of nothing .
Very telling those that want freedom for themselves continuallly campain to deny it to others .
Actually John, out TV isn't from the dark ages, but we don't have a means to stop certain channels.
There are a couple of ways to do this, either via the infamous V-Chip, or you can contact your service provider and repectfully request that a particular channel be blocked.
http://www.cox.com/takecharge/parents_TV.asp - I use Cox and this is a link to their parental goodness.
As far kids not seeing it wether the perant is in attendance or not .
all tv systems *unless you have a tv from the dark ages * have a way to block unwanted programing by blocking that programe /or that time frame , or just be eliminating the channel completly .
no excuse for censoring /banning access to certain material even thou it may have a limited following and you may find it offensive for your children to see .... there are programes 7 /24 that cater for kids, direct there attention to them
Actually John, out TV isn't from the dark ages, but we don't have a means to stop certain channels.
As I said, I don't have a particular problem with the talking genitalia and I'm certainly not advocating the demise of Public Access (although itis total crap where we are - all fuzzy pictures of council meetings).
I also agree with what you and Pilgrim say about ownership of the airwaves.
However, my experience with little wonder is that even small children emulate what they see on TV. LW does a very convincing impression of Thomas the Tank Engine ("cinders and ashes!!!"). We keep some control over what LW watches, actually LW watches very little as neither of us watch much TV either - but it is no great leap to realize that kids watching TV will act out what they see and if they watch something inappropriate they will behave inappropriately.
My personal concern is violence, which seem to be standard fare on TV, particularly cable, which I suspect has an increasing influence on the levels of agreesion we see in our society and also on the the level of violence some expect our leaders to inflict on others.
A i agree with you about violence this country is founded on it and it seems to dominate our lives .. movies and such are full of it .would be better if the govt ( any party ) took there time to curb violence in our tv in our films and written in our books . :)
My line about a tv from the dark ages was a flippant throw away line i was thinking more of the person who buys a tv from a yard sale that still has the old round click on and or switch.
Im sure you are past that , anyway sorry wasnt ment personally :) :) :)