Ginsberg: A Muse Unplugged

Imagine a radical radio station can't afford to be radical because of possible effects on its bottom line. "Howl" is a classic and has been judged "not obscene" by the courts. All this shows is that many in the US have become frightened not just of terrorists but even of lawsuits or the Israel lobby or whatever......

New York Times (editorial) - October 8, 2007

A Muse Unplugged

At the height of his bardic powers, Allen Ginsberg could terrify the
authorities with the mere utterance of the syllable "om" as he led
street throngs of citizens protesting the Vietnam War. Ginsberg
reigned as the raucous poet of American hippiedom and as a literary
pioneer whose freewheeling masterwork "Howl" prevailed against
government censorship in a landmark obscenity trial 50 years ago.

It is with a queasy feeling of history in retreat that poetry lovers
discover that WBAI, long the radio flagship of cocky resistance to
government excess, decided last week that it couldn't risk a 50th
anniversary broadcast of the late poet's recording of "Howl." The
station retreated out of fear that the Federal Communications
Commission would levy large obscenity fines that might bankrupt the
small-budget station.

The retreat was hardly an exercise of the sort of rhetorical paranoia
that listeners rate as part of the charm of WBAI, an outlet with a
brave history in broadcasting such free speech as George Carlin's
comedic "seven dirty words." No, this time the broadcaster had to be
mindful that the F.C.C. had already fined CBS $550,000 for its absurd
nanosecond telecast of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction."
Stations are rightly worried these days that airing "fleeting
expletives" can cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop.
The result is a growing tendency toward self-censorship. WBAI is
hardly alone in flinching.

Public broadcasting stations already are editing Ken Burns's new
documentary on World War II, eliminating pungent four-letter talk
from the eyewitness accounts of G.I. Joe.

If Ginsberg were still with us, he would undoubtedly pen a mocking
line or two about his poem being banned from the airwaves 50 years
after it was ruled not to be obscene.

Congress, of course, could redress the F.C.C.'s bullying powers if it
wanted to. But lately, the Capitol's most energetic broadcast agenda
has been conservative members' organizing against any attempt to
restore the fairness doctrine to political broadcast, which could
crimp the 24/7 rants of right-wing talk radio. The poet would
understand, having once noted: "Whoever controls the media, the
images, controls the culture."

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