Who Regulates What the Media Can Do?

The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, regulates communications by television, radio, satellite, wire, and cable.   

The FCC regulates communications. Their jurisdiction covers all 50 states, US territories, and the District of Columbia. They are an independent government agency that was created in 1934. They regulate any kind of communication which includes anything that emits radio waves. Even when there is a remote controlled toy or appliance, a control to open your garages door, a swipe of your credit card, or a wireless message sent from your computer, the FCC regulates these actions, mainly for safety reasons.

The question of who regulates the ethics of what is said in the media is the next logical question a lot of people would ask. Advertisers, for example, who are not ethical, will usually be found out. If they make libelous statement, then they will get sued. If they are perceived to be unethical, sales will plummet. So you could say that business and the legal system does a lot to regulate advertisers. Let’s look at some of the issues of ethics.  

Regulation of Ethics in the Media

Reporters and journalists are sometimes thought to have no ethics; in other words, they will do anything to get a story. This is true of some, but not all.

Ethics is in constant flux in the media. There are unwritten rules that are followed and written ones that are not. Take for instance, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was almost always photographed from the waist up, so many Americans did not know he had polio. This was an unwritten rule that all the media followed, maybe out of respect for the Presidency. When he ran for office again, he asked that the policy still be followed and it was. You probably know that scenario would never happen today.

The media cleaned up their act quite a bit after Watergate. Before Watergate, the media cooperated in covering up certain things, especially things that went on behind the scenes. After Watergate, they turned the spotlight on government and came to realize that if they are exposing corruption, then they themselves needed to be ethical and free of corruption.    

However, as competition increases, ethics and responsibility decreases and the 1990s saw a lot of both. Some of this could be because most television stations and newspapers are owned by big corporations and were no longer locally owned. Big corporations usually only see the bottom line, which is making money. After all, they have a responsibility to their shareholders. The FCC regulates what the media can do but in a war between profits and ethics, profits usually win.