Spanish Media and the FCC

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Interesting blog post over at the Washington Post’s Post I.T. blog. “El Piolin” comes to mind…he makes Stern sound like Mother Teresa!

Spanish-language broadcasters (Univision, NBC Universal’s Telemundo, Azteca)have gone largely unpoliced by the FCC. This could be the start of acrackdown, not only on programming requirements but also on indecency.The FCC has issued a couple of fines to Spanish-speaking radio stationsfor indecency, but it’s rare. I have read the (translated) material,and it’s as raunchy, if not more, than anything Howard Stern has been fined for.

Why has such a media giant flown largely under the radar? Sometheories: Not enough people at the FCC speak Spanish. TheSpanish-language audience is well-served by consolidation and does notmind. The audience is not offended by the potentially indecentmaterial. The audience does not know how to file a complaint at theFCC.

In any industry, being bilingual is now an asset. It could save you a lot of headaches. As to why the FCC has allowed Spanish media to go un-checked is beyond me. i’m not one to encourage government regulation, but I have seen what Spanish media gets away with. It is certainly not “chidren’s” material. I wrote a research paper on this subject during my undergrad years. I found clear examples of Spanish “telenovelas” that targeted children, and that included mature and sexual content.

I do hope the FCC will put a stop to that, and start keeping a better eye on Spanish language media–for the public’s sake.

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